Yonder
by hoheehum
Summary: discontinued
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I dun really need it 4 this chap, since I dun use ne1 from IZ YET… but, just in case I missed sumthin, here goes: I DO NOT OWN IZ… :::::sigh:::::

There was originally a lot more to this story, but my stupid computer decided to fu-

****

*please hold for technical difficulties*

sry bout that. Tryin to keep this rating marginally low for the time being. Dun expect it to get much higher, I dun like that kinda stuff, unless it's REALLY worth it.

Newa, this is my second fic. I'm impatient, and my first fic hasn't had ne reviews ;_; so I decided to post this too, and see which does better. 

PLEASE R/R!!! FLAMES ARE VERY WELCOME, as long as they're constructive criticism, not "YOU SUK!" kinda stufz.

Well, thank u lots, ON W/ THE SHOW- er -STORY!!!

The Beginning

Terrin was a quiet boy, known by the people of his town to be _relatively_ pleasant, if somewhat… strange. 

His hair was a deep violet, spiked like a scythe over his face, and a few loose strands always falling down over his pale blue eyes, and onto his trench coat-covered shoulders. His eyes, though his mother liked their natural color, were always hidden under contacts; whether lightning streaks, cat eyes, red eyes, or black eyes, they were always hidden.

The trench coat was old; he knew that because he had found it in his attic, in a rickety old metallic case. But it was still cool.

He always wore it over the day's outfit, and he constantly enjoyed the flare he got when he spun, or ran quickly. 

It was the first day of his sofmoor year at Hi Skool, so he was dressed his best.

His left ear, pierced four times up it's length, had two small blue light-rods through them, and a chain, which hooked at the top hole, dangled down to the bottom of his ear, and fastened there with a small diamond stud at it's end.

His eyes were intentionally mismatched, one with the lightning streaks, one with the plain black. That was the bast way to scare people away.

He wore heavy lace up boots under his baggy black pants, and a black tee shirt, with a white rose on it. And of course, on top of it all, was his trench coat. 

He admired himself in the mirror, fixing his hair to look as blade-like as possible, and trotted down the stairs, into the living room, snatched his yet-to-be-full backpack, and was almost out the door when he heard his mother's voice calling from the kitchen.

"Aren't you going to have some breakfast before your first day of school?"

"I'm not hungry."

"At least come grab some of these eggs, I made them so that you would have something to eat when you came up."

"I said, mom, I'm not hungry."

He heard his mother's sigh. Heard the trashcan squeak as she shoved the eggs into it, and heard her throw the once more clean pan into it's appropriate spot, before storming out into the living room where he was now standing.

"Have a nice day," she said blandly, with a peck of a kiss on his cheek, then turned and walked up the stairs. 

Terrin felt a pang of guilt, but ignored it, turned slowly to the door, and made his way out. 

As soon as he walked in the door at hi skool, he felt every eye land on him with a distraught air. _Perfect_ he thought, before making his way to his new homeroom.

He walked in the room, and watched as several of the children darted to get out of his way. He ignored the whispers behind his back. 

Briefly, he studied the room in an attempt to find the teacher. With no such luck, and not wanting to look like he was having trouble with anything, he continued on his way, when a shadow appeared across his path. Then the shadow took on depth, and hissed up in front of him, to tower over his slight form.

The snake-woman eyed him in a distasteful manner. Then she hissed around towards her desk, her clothes whispering like tendrils of some filthy smog, and sat. As she did this, Terrin thought that he heard her mutter something, but the words were lost in a sudden commotion at the door.

Terrin found himself a desk, slung himself across the chair, and feigned nonchalance. But indeed he was very interested in the boy that had just walked in.

He glided through the door, boasting his preppy clothes, and dripping with money, girls, and friends. He meandered to the desk beside Terrin's, and sat on it's top, continuing his conversation. 

He looked all too normal, with his sketcher sneakers, khaki pants, white No Fear tee shirt, and plaid over shirt. His skin was pale with an olive-like touch of green, and his hair was spiked with gel; but this wasn't what caught Terrin's attention. It was the boy's eyes. 

They were mostly normal looking, except for the red. They were entirely red, as though he had found a contact that covered his whole eye, instead of just the iris. But it was so _real_ that there was no doubt that it was natural. 

There was a horrible screeching noise from the front of the room, which after a moment everyone realized was their teacher's voice calling them to get to their seats (or else). 

Once the classroom was in order, and the students quieted, the teacher softened her voice ever-so-slightly, and began to lay out the schedule for their doomed lives. 

After a moment, the preppy boy leaned over and whispered to Terrin, "Rumor says she's been teaching here since the Hi Skool opened a hundred years ago."

"That's impossible," Terrin replied bluntly, and slid in his chair so that his back was to the boy. 

"You have some doomed thing to share with the rest of the doomed class, Mr. Membrane?" the teacher asked.

"No, thank you," Terrin replied.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as the teacher's eye twitched, and smiled inwardly at a job well done.

"Not cool," he heard the new boy next to him mutter. Terrin ignored him.

As Terrin made his way out of the Hi Skool that afternoon, the river of students parting for him and him alone, he felt someone grab his arm. 

"Hey!"

Terrin was pulled to the side. He eyed his captor up and down. It was the boy from that morning. 

"Yeah?" he said narrowing his eyes. 

"Hey, Ketric Dominator. Friends call me Ket. How 'bout you?"

"Getoutta Myface. Don't have any friends. But you can call me 'I'm leaving now.'"

Ketric stood in front of Terrin, blockading the door, and looking him in the contact-covered eyes. "You gonna listen to what I have to say?"

"Hopefully not."

Ketric continued to block the door. 

"You look like the type that would believe me," he said. "Nobody else does. And, well, y'know, I don't expect you to go and tell anyone… no offense or anythi-

"Oh, I get it. This is some sort of joke your little friends put you up to, Dominator. You should warn them that I'm not stupid- again. Lemme guess, you're gonna try to tell me that there are aliens out there, or that you spotted big foot, and once I start to believe you, you're gonna tell them all, so that they can all come and laugh. Am I right?"

"No!"

Terrin snorted, and an angry smile crept up his face. "Go away, Dominator."

This time, Ketric backed down. He stepped to the side, and allowed Terrin to pass.

As the boy walked away, one of his friends came over to him; a boy named Kevin. Ketric didn't like Kevin much, he was stupid and stuck up. He basically ran the clique that Ketric had been hanging around with. The popular group.

"Don't get mixed up with him," Kevin snarled in Ketric's ear. "You shouldn't talk to _him_ for anything."

"Whatever," Ketric snarled.

Terrin made his way into his house, throwing his backpack into the nearest corner, and slammed the door shut.

At the base of the steps, Mavinus, his little brother sat playing with a new model of a hover craft toy which he had buried himself in since their father had been killed five years ago in the accident.

Terrin walked over to the child, who was the only human Terrin could ever speak with, possibly because little Mav, named after their father, was too young to understand why everyone disliked his big brother.

Mav stood with a joyful squeal, and latched himself to Terrin's leg. He giggled furiously as Terrin knelt and scooped him into his arms to spin him around. 

"Hey kid," Terrin said, and balanced Mav on his hip so that he could carry the child upstairs with one free hand to grab his toy which had been tossed onto the floor. "Why don't we head upstairs, and I'll show you some hints on how to get this piece of crap to go a little higher, a little faster?"

"Yeah!"

Together they made their way into Terrin's room, who just happened to have an incredible gift with science that he didn't tell most people about, because it was too… stupid. Him, a science nerd? Ha!

"I was listening in on that old radio headset we have in the attic- 

"You mean the one mom told you not to touch?" Terrin asked.

"Yeah," Mav replied nonchalantly, then continued. "The thing's still in good shape!"

"Really?"

"Uh huh. I managed to pick a whole conversation of a couple satellite 'naughts coming into the atmosphere. They were funny. I guess they were bored, cause they were fighting about which one of them was taller!"

Terrin laughed. "Did you record it?"

"You mean like I do everything else I pick up?"

"Shut up, little man. So you have it on USD?"

"Yup. Wanna listen?"

Terrin smiled. "'Course."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

dundundun DUN!!!! Alright. I'm gonna beg you to R/R now, cause if you don't, I probably won't write any more. Although I might if you all discover that you like the story as I get into it ^o^

If you like it, I'll try to get 1 or 2 up a week. IF I can, cause, erm, I hate school. Let's leave it there. ^o~ kk, well, I'll let you all continue on with your lives while I go do something useful with my own (since my ***beeping*** school doesn't offer a creative writing course for 9th and 10th graders!!!!) So I'll just go and mope now. Have a pleasant night O.o

hoheehum


	2. A'fore Me

A/N: Alright, whether you all wanted more or not, here's more! Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! Also, now that it's the weekend, there will be more people on who will review!!!! (Yay!) and one question- I would seriously like to know why it is someone sent me the Pepper Anne theme song, and no explanation as to why. Not that I mind, but… as you can possibly imagine, it was just SLIGHTLY confusing. O.o So newa, please R/R, flames are welcome suggestions are deeply apriciated, and people telling me I'm the best author on the face of the planet are highly intelligent. (I know, not at all modest, am I? hehehe). Ehhem. Well, here we go-

Disclaimer: Anyone who thinks I, miss NOTJHONEN, own IZ, please raise your hand. hehe. PUT YOUR HAND DOWN GIR!

Alright, second chapter : A'fore Me

^*^*^*^*^*^

Terrin and his younger brother sat giggling like a couple of fools as they sat on their roof, and listened to the recording of the two astronauts as they got into quite a heated debate over which one of the two was taller. 

^*^*^conversation^*^*^

"Is the translator on?" the first astronaut asked.

"You moron, you're already speaking the language and you didn't even realize it."

"Oh."

"So, even though we've been sitting all this time and can't really tell, which one of us do you think is taller by now?"

"Me."

"Yeah, sure. As I recall, you were the shortest kid in the academy."

"Hey," Terrin commented, "These guys are from INASA academy. That's big-time stuff!"

"I know," Mav said smiling proudly, "Isn't that cool?"

"Sweeeeeet."

"Oh by the Almighty Tallest! You don't have to remind me of that."

"Yeah I do. I COULD outrank you when we get off this piece of trash."

"You'll never outra- Hey. That button there."

"What about it?"

"It's blinking. What's the button. It's on your side!"

"Oh- IGITZ!"

"What is it?"

"We're being monitored by someone on the planet."

"SHMO! Hit the cloaki-

The recording ended abruptly, and Terrin couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Man those astronauts were warped. Hey, listen little bro- it's your bedtime. You'd better head down there before mom gets annoyed."

"Yeah, yeah," Mav muttered, before he crawled to the center of the roof, opened the small door to the attic, dropped his legs in."

"Night."

"Night Mav."

Terrin sat there for a while more, staring up at the stars. He had never been able to help his terrible curiosity as to what exactly was hidden in their lustrous depths, but the only way for him to uphold his appearance while still satisfying the insatiable urge was to sit there night after night and stare at the stars. Every once in a while a star would streak by, or the old headphone set would pick up a scratchy voice from somewhere in the heavens. 

He reached his hands behind his head and lay down to stare at the beauty above him. Before long, he had fallen asleep.

^*^*^*^*^*^

Ketric was in the classroom early so that he might catch Terrin as soon as the boy was in the door; which turned out to be exactly what he did.

Terrin slipped in and was preparing to take his seat when Ketric grabbed his arm and pulled him into the corner of the room.

"Oh, not _you_ again," Terrin groaned.

"Yeah, me again. Listen, I really need you to belie-

"Listen. After school, okay? Meet me… behind the skool next to the gate to enter the reservoir. I'll follow you to your place from there. Is that good enough for you? I don't want to talk to you, but you're just not gonna leave me alone."

"Directly after skool."

"Yeah."

Ketric nodded.

^*^*^*^*^*^

The day was all-but uneventful for Terrin until Astronomy AP, which both he and Ketric were in.

It was right before the period began that Dominator walked into the room surrounded by the usual

crowd that followed him everywhere else he went. He took up his seat by the door at the front of the class. Terrin's seat was on the opposite side of the row, and he glared at Ketric quickly before sitting down.

The teacher, Dr. Mendo, had taught Terrin for three years now. He went to the front of the class and wrote an equation on the board: 

st/w = ((e)(m))+(l)(?)

"Mister Membrane!"

Terrin jerked up in his seat, startled, and looked at the teacher. Snickers whispered up from behind him.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Can you translate and complete this formula for me?"

Terrin sighed. "Space time over work is equal to energy multiplied by matter plus light times… power?" he spat out quickly. People turned to look at him.

Mendo gave Terrin a stern stare for longer than Terrin was comfortable, and several of his classmates looked around at each other, and then each of them began computing the answer themselves. All off them except for Ketric who was, along with the teacher, giving Terrin an odd look.

"Correct, Mister Membrane. Perhaps you're brighter than you pretend to be."

"Okay," Terrin said with a shrug.

"Can you, by any chance, tell me what the answer would be if you were to apply this formula to a distance of, say 100,000 kilometers while travelling at a speed of 3 light years an hour with a force of 96?"

"430,000" came the voice from the opposite end of the room. This time, everyone looked over to Ketric, who had no calculator or any other counting device in his hands. 

Mendo's eyes widened. "The only student I've had before that could do that was Mister Membrane, who is sitting right in front of me now. The two of you should see what sort of trouble you can get into at INASA web-page."

"Yeah," the two chorused.

Mendo smiled. "Let's see how many of these things you two can do."

^*^*^*^*^*^

"You're late," Terrin growled.

"It took me a bit to find this place."

"Let's just go and get whatever it is you want me to do over with, okay?"

Ketric sighed. "I don't want you to _do_ anything, I just want you to _see_ something. But first I have to know if I can trust you. Can I?"

"You can trust me as far as I can trust you, okay? You take me to your house and show me this thing, and I won't say anything about it, if you don't mention anything about me even _speaking_ to you. Deal?"

"Yeah. Deal."

The two proceeded to walk in silence the rest of the way to Ketric's house. 

The house itself was a two story Victorian, about twice the size of Terrin's house, and was strikingly handsome. 

"Your place?" Terrin asked, trying not to be impressed.

"Yup. Home sweet hell."

Terrin snorted in recognition of Ketric's feelings towards the family that was obviously concealed within the building.

"C'mon. Let's get this over with."

They made their way up the front deck, in through the great wooden doors, which had to be centuries old for them to be permitted on the house, and down a stair case to Ketric's room.

"Now look. I was planning to put my tv over in that corner," Ketric said pointing, "but it was too big. I wanted to see if removing the carpet in that spot would give me just enough room. Instead, I decided to put my bed over the torn up carpet and not tell anyone about what it was I had found underneath the carpet."

"So then you go and tell a complete stranger who doesn't even like you."

"No, no. When I saw you… I couldn't help but think that I knew you from somewhere."

"You mean, like, De Ja Voux?"

"Yeah!"

"That is so weird! I fealt that too- oh, wait, no I didn't."

Ketric glared at Terrin.

"Does this fairy tale have a point? Are you going to show me what you found?" Terrin asked, pointing to the bed.

"I can trust you?"

"It's not like I have anyone to tell anything to," Terrin muttered just loud enough for Ketric to hear.

"Help me move my bed."

Together the two moved the bed out of the way, and a large oval shape was cut into the floor on the uncarpeted floor.

"Oh, look," Terrin said, glaring at Ketric, "a hole in the floor. How incredibly exciting. Can I get back to my life now?"

"Stand on it. In the oval."

Terrin rolled his eyes and stepped onto the shape cut into the floor. Ketric stepped on beside him.

"Computer, take us to the lab," Ketric commanded.

"Computer? Woah, someone's into a little too much Star Trek- AYE!" The floor began to lower, and brought Terrin and Ketric down quite swiftly into darkness.

"Computer," Ketric said. "Lights."

The vast room was illuminated, the lights flickering on far into the distance until the whole place was filled with light, and Terrin could see what it was that Ketric had found.

He gasped.

^*^*^*^*^*^

CLIFFHANGER! YAY! Alright, well, that's the second chapter. Please R/R, I REALLY like comments, no matter what they are. Thanx for reading!-

hoheehum


	3. Engraved in Ice

A/N: Alright! On with the third chapter! Since reviews are flying in (ehhem), I'm going to try to spike

everyone's interest by finally bringing in some of the Zim characters we all know and love! ^^

(oh, stupid tab key- WORK!!!)

There's a good chance that this chapter will be fairly short.

Disclaimer: I do not own Invader Zim, I do not own them, Sam-I-im! (hey, I needed something that rhymed.)

Chapter Three: Engraved in Ice

Terrin studied the chamber, done in dark pink and green, with all of it's alien technology splayed out before him in it's dusty, rusted, and tarnished glory. Things that even the human race, as advanced as it was, had not yet come up with. 

In one corner of the room something faintly white glowed, revealing itself against the other softer colors within the alien laboratory. Three tall cylinders were surrounded by a semi-circular force field that seemed to shift and change colors like a giant bubble in the new light.

"My god…" Terrin whispered.

Ketric nodded. "I didn't want to explore this whole thing alone. It's creepy when you're alone."

"It's creepy when you're not alone," Terrin said, then on a split-second instinct, he said, "Well, I'm here now. Let's check this thing out."

They stepped off the oval shape beneath them, which then immediately rose behind them, catching Terrin's attention for just a second, before he turned back to the lab.

"This is sweeeet."

"Tell me about it. Look, see those things?"

"The things surrounded by the force fields? They look like a bunch of cryochambers."

"That's what I was thinking," Ketric replied.

"C'mon. Let's go check it out."

Terrin proceeded to walk towards the cylinders, ignoring Ketric's warnings that neither one of them knew whether there was still something living down here.

"Trust me, whatever was here is dead now, or in one of those chambers," Terrin said over his shoulder, and continued to walk.

As he walked down the clanking floor, something silver caught the light, and Terrin's attention. He walked over, knelt, and studied what looked to him like a small pile of scrap metal. He reached down and touched it, but drew back quickly as whatever it was began making a low humming noise like that of a computer starting up.

There was a slight creak as a cone-shaped piece of metal rose up to greet Terrin with two bright blue eyes. It rolled it's head as if getting a crick out of it's neck, and then smiled cheerfully at him. Terrin drew back at this, and stood once more so that he was safe from whatever it was in case it tried to attack.

But the thing seemed to have something else in mind. It stood and waved at him, then stuck out it's little tongue, and said simply, "Hi!"

With a shout, Terrin leapt backwards away from the robot.

"What! What happened?" Ketric ran up beside him, and stared at the robot. 

"It looks like and android…" he whispered.

"Yeah," Terrin agreed bluntly.

"Gir reporting for duty!" It's eyes narrowed and turned red, then widened and faded back to the friendly blue hue. "Where's master?"

"Gir?"

"Yaaaaaaaiiiiiiiissssss?"

"It… talks…?"

"I'm dancin' like a munkay!" it squealed, and both boys jumped backwards. "Awwww, dun be afraid Dib human with purple hair and other human!"

"Dib human?" Ketric asked.

"Yeeeeeeah!" it squealed. "Where's master?" it asked again.

"Who's your master, Dib human?" Ketric queried. To his surprise, the little robot began laughing.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeheeheeheehee!" it shrieked. Both humans covered their ears.

Then the root promptly stopped laughing, turned on it's heal, and began walking away. Ketric looked at Terrin, who shrugged, and both followed Gir down the clanking platform to the three cylinders surrounded by the force field.

"Awwwww!" Gir said, his eyes looking suddenly pitiful, "Master cold!"

It pointed to one of the tall cylinders, which Terrin had been right to guess were cryochambers. Both teenagers followed the finger, and then gasped at what their eyes met.

"That's…"

"Not human," Terrin finished. "Definitely not human."

"Master?" Gir called. "Master?" it repeated with a bit more urgency. Then it walked forwards through the shield to the base of the alien's chamber. 

The alien itself was about five nine. It's skin was green, and claws sprouted from the ends of it's hands, while two antenna rose from the top of it's head. It's eyes were closed, but it looked like it had been struggling to get out even as it was being frozen. 

In the tube beside the alien was a human. The human was around six feet. He wore old-fashioned black slacks, and a turtle neck sweater. Heavy lace-up boots were on his feet. His knife-like hair was slung over his face, so that he, too looked like he had been struggling, as did the other two captives. 

Both of the were aliens of the same species as the first. They were almost seven feet tall, and both wore a strange sort of armor, which matched the color of their eyes. One had red eyes, the other had purple, and their deep colors were visible even through the paling ice.

"Holy-

"Masterrrrrrrrr! Masterrrrrrrrrrr!" Gir began wailing, pounding his fists against the chamber of the first one they had seen.

"Gir! Shut up!" Terrin shouted. Then he began walking towards the force field with every intention to walk through it as the robot had but then figured that the robot had been able to go through because it was not alive, and stopped. 

"Hey Gir?" Ketric called. The robot turned to look at him.

"Yeah?" 

"Can you take the force field down so that we can get in, and maybe we'll be able to free your master?"

The robot's face lit up. It marched proudly over to a control panel, hit a single button, and the force fiend went away.

"Well," Terrin though aloud, "whoever put up that force field wasn't expecting a robot to show up and take it down."

"I guess so," Ketric agreed.

Terrin stepped through where the force field had been a moment before, bracing himself for any unseen attackers. But he felt simply the hair rise up on his back as he was now closer to the aliens, and heard the loud alarm warning him against and intruder, which, Terrin guessed, was himself.

"Oh computerrrr…!" Gir said in a sing-songy voice. "False alarmy thingy!"

The computer stopped making noise, and Terrin shrugged, then steeled himself, and continued forwards towards the alien's chamber. 

"Gir…?" he asked. The robot turned to acknowledge him. "Would you mind if I let the human out first, so that he can help me get your master out?" In truth, Terrin simply didn't want to confront the alien without someone from his own race who _knew_ the alien along-side him, just in case the alien wasn't quite as friendly as his robot.

"Let the Dib-human out first, Dib-human-with-purple-hair? Okay!" Then the robot began singing, "Doom, doomy-doomy-doom… etceteras. Terrin finally tuned him out.

"Now let's see… What's _this_ button do?" Terrin studied the control panel beneath the Dib-human's chamber, then hit the biggest button on the board, which just happened to be red.

"You idiot!" Ketric shouted from behind him. "You _never_ hit the big red button until you're _told_ to hit the big red button!"

"Yeah, yeah. Well look at it this way- it's defrosting!"

"But-huh?"

Indeed the cryochamber holding the Dib-human was beginning to defrost. The "glass" (because Terrin wasn't sure it was actually glass) began to mist over so that the human within was no longer visible. A hissing noise could be heard, and a small black chart beside Terrin's arm began to blip in what was obviously a heartbeat. The heartbeat was at first very slow, as Terrin could just barely make out the liquid in the tube lowering gradually, but as the last of the liquid disappeared, the heart beat began to go to normal.

Slowly the glass top of the tube slid off, and a white gas like that which dry ice lets off filtered out. The walls of the tube began to lower into the floor. 

As the glass was no longer supporting the human who was unconscious and standing on atrophied legs, he fell back, but just as Terrin thought the human was going to crash into the ground and hurt himself, a bed popped up and caught him. Two metallic arms sprouted out and tore the man's shirt off, then began doing chest compressions to get him to cough up swallowed water. 

A glass shell shot up just as the water came spilling from the Dib-human's mouth, and covered him. Then the walls steamed up slightly, then cleared, revealing Dib dried off and warm. Strange machines came out of the ceiling. The shell opened to let them in, and then closed again. The machines attached themselves to his arms, legs, around his middle body, and one small collar-like one to his neck.

__

They're rebuilding his muscles, Terrin thought excitedly. _Humans don't have _any_ technology like this!_

After a while, when the excitement of the new technology had faded into impatience for the Dib-human to be back to his health, the clear shell vanished back below the floor. The machines detached themselves and went back to the ceiling, and one machine maniacally repaired the torn shirt and placed it at the Dib-human's feet.

Dib groaned.

He opened his eyes to find three blurry figures standing over him. He closed his eyes. "Now what did you do, Zim?" he asked.

Uhoh! ^__^ Dibby's in for a BIG surprise! Yay! Cliffhanger! Maybe this'll get people a little more interested in it! The characters will one-by-one reappear! I'd make my chapters a bit longer, but I don't believe in incredibly big chapters, so that people can read my story, while still having time to go to other people's stories, but just long enough to keep you interested.

Okily-doke *goes skipping off happily into the sunset- crashes into big cardboard sun*


	4. Waker's Woes

A/N: Yay! Chapter 4! I'm flying with this thing! I'll shush, I don't want to jinx myself. Sorry to those who didn't read this because of it's crappy summary. I've always been bad at summaries… 

Well, it's more of your favorite characters, (and fan art would be appreciated)

Disclaimer: Dun own 'um now, never will. 

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Zim? Who's he?"

Dib shot up on his bed, nearly cracking heads with Ketric, if it had not been for the fact that the boy had moved out of the way quickly.

"Who are you people?"

"Hi Dib-human!" Gir chimed.

"Gir? Gir, do you have something to fix my vision?"

"Yupperdoozies!" The robot opened his head, reached in, pulled out a moldy muffin, a squeaky pig, and finally a pair of goggles. He handed the latter to Dib, offered Ketric the muffin (who politely declined) and began playing with the pig, pretending that it was flying through the air.

Dib put the goggles on. There was a bright flash of light, and Dib pulled the goggles off, to find his vision perfected.

Ketric watched in curiosity as the man looked around at them with a remarkably confused expression on his face.

"Zim?" he asked meekly.

Gir, of course, began wailing again for his master. That was when Dib looked up at the icy tomb that his old partner was being held in, and his face fell. 

The images of his own struggle in the cryochambers before being frozen there were fresh in his mind, now.

He jumped off the table with remarkable agility, considering that he had not been on his feet for who-knows-how-long, and ran to the controls for Zim's container. He slammed down the red button, but alien letters appeared on the screen. 

"No! I should have known he'd lock it!" The human let out a rather nasty alien obscenity, then turned back to the staring teens and tearful robot.

"Master won't wake up?" Gir asked sadly.

"No, Gir. Master _will_ wake up, we just need the keys to unlock his sleepiness," Dib explained, as if speaking to a child. 

"And you!" the human continued, turning to Terrin and Ketric. Dib seemed overly-interested in Terrin's hair, but ignored it for now. 'Who are you two?"

"People."

Dib frowned, then walked over to the third cell to let Purple out. He hit the big red button, and this time, the decryonic process began. He did the same for Red.

Finally after the mess of the robots and machines, the two aliens moaned. Purple put a hand to his head. Red shouted for his guard to get him his laser. 

"_Now_ what did you do, Zim?" Purple asked, ignoring Red.

Dib laughed. "That's the exact same thing I said when I woke up, Pur. Maybe it has something to do with Zim."

"Woke up?" The tall alien suddenly sat up and stared at Dib. "Woke up?" he repeated.

Purple looked back at where the cryochambers were, and saw Zim still suspended in his frozen prison.

"Oh shmo," he muttered. He turned himself so that his strange dress-like armor dangled off the table, and then proceeded to slip off the table only to hover there. He looked around and narrowed his eyes at Terrin and Ketric, who shied away, and Gir, who waved happily.

"They let you out?" Purple asked.

"Yup," Dib replied, pulling his shirt on. 

"Oh, for Irk's sake! Earth children!" Red howled, also standing, and hovering over to Ketric and Terrin. 

"Yeah," Terrin said stepping forwards, "So what's it to you?"

Red eyed the boy distastefully. His eyes narrowed, and a small hand holding a laser came out of his pod. 

"What's that, your little alien ray gun? Gonna make it shine all bright and red?" 

"Terrin…" Ketric said through gritted teeth, which he had shaped to look like a smile, "Let's not tick off the gigantic alien with a laser."

"No, stupid human, I'm going to kill you-

"Woah! Big fella, kid with a death wish," Dib stepped between them, "both of you calm down! We have to see if there's a way to get Zim outta there without the key, since I don't think our good old friend Smivy would have left it here for us to take and get him out with."

Red pointed to Terrin, "Maybe he has it!"

"He's a kid, Red. And considering he just saved all of us, I don't think he now would have any intention of keeping Zim locked up."

Terrin glared at Red. "I don't even know who this 'Zim' guy is anyway."

"Annoying human filth," the alien growled in response.

Purple came to the to stand beside Red. "Well, human child, if you do not know Zim then how did you find this place?"

"He found it," Terrin said pointing to Ketric, who smiled sheepishly as the alien closed in on him.

"I was tearing up my carpet, and I saw this weird oval shape cut into the floor, so I was playing around to see what it was, and it went down into this… thing."

"It's a lab. An advanced lab of the Irken Empire!"

"Yeah, yeah," Dib muttered, "The question is, 'whatever happened to the Irken-Earth treaty?'"

"The what?" Terrin and Ketric chorused. 

"I guess that answers that question," Purple muttered. "Smivy must have succeeded in destroying it."

With a sigh, Dib returned his eyes to Ketric and Terrin. "Whatever happened to Gaz, do you two know?" he asked. The teenagers shook their heads. 

"Zim'll be devastated," Purple said. Dib frowned.

Terrin would have demanded an explanation if it were not for the sudden buzzing coming from a nearby console. 

Red hovered quickly over to see what it was, then pressed a button. "Almighty Tallest Red speaking, come in?"

"Almighty Tallest Red?" came a scratchy voice over what must have been a radio. Terrin blinked when he recognized the voice as that of one of the astronauts from the other night.

"Yes, now identify yourself."

"Irken invader Dettia. We, my partner and I, have been assigned to invade this planet by direct order of Almighty Tallest Tetter. We were stunned when our computer suddenly began reading other Irken life signs, without any Irken ships coming into orbit."

"Almighty tallest Tetter!"

"Invade Earth?" Purple spoke up, floating to the console. "That's ridiculous! Why would any Irken want to do that?"

"I apologize, but that information is classified."

"But I'm a Tallest! I _make_ things classified!"

"You actually want me to believe," the Irken invader replied sourly, "that not only are you a Tallest who has been dead for nearly two dexhal now, but that now you're back alive on some stupid planet on the outskirts of the Irken Empire. One of the last few to be invaded?"

"Last few? Two dexhal?"

"What are dexhal?" Ketric asked Dib. 

Dib, who didn't bother to blink out of his own stunned state, replied, "The Irken equivalent of a century. The Irken planet has almost the exact same orbital pattern that Earth does, and they have a very similar numerical system. So if these Irkens say it was _almost_ two hundred years, say 197 years for their planet, it would be 210 years on Earth," then to himself, the man whispered, "I've been in the cryochamber _that long_?"

"Fine then, that's what I'm asking you to believe,' Red snapped at the person on the other end, "And in order to make you believe me, we shall all meet."

"What? Purple exclaimed. "Red, that's-

"Where's a convenient, uncrowded area around here?" the tallest asked the two teens. He covered what must have been the microphone with one hand.

"Red, I don't think this is the brightest idea-

"Ummm…" Ketric looked to Terrin. 

"Behind the school near the reservoir. There's a gate there, and between the gate and the water is a huge field where all the crack-heads hang out, so if anyone spots us, we should be okay, since everyone will think that they were just stoned again and seeing things if they tell."

Red asked where the other aliens were. It turned out they were somewhere in California, across the country. But Red told them where to meet at the reservoir in a day, and to put a cloak on until it was night here, then to land at the place Terrin had described. 

"Bring muffins!" Gir chimed happily. 

Red shut off the communicator, and was greeted by Purple's angry stare.

"What if it's all a trap?"

Dib stepped between them. "We can argue about that later. Right now… what are we going to do about food, or sleeping arrangements? We can't stay down here, we'll run the power dry just by leaving the lights on, with the age of this equipment, not to mention life support, for us _and _Zim. And I don't want to know what kinds of critters might be down here, after this long a time. Like groundhog ghosts! Or vampire bats!"

"Shut up Dib," Red and Purple said in unison. 

"He _is_ right, though," Purple said alone. "We're going to want to use some of this equipment later on, so we need to save power, and the cryochamber needs to retain power in order to support Zim."

Suddenly the two extraterrestrials and the human looked at the teenagers. 

"My place," Terrin said suddenly. "My mom doesn't pay enough attention to me to notice if there are two or three more people living in the basement. And she's too used to me sneaking out at night to… uh… take a walk around the neighborhood, so she won't care if she hears people going in and out at odd times. But you two need disguises," he said to Red and Purple, "and you need more modern clothes," he said to Dib, and to dye your hair purple. That way, in case my mom _does_ spot you, you look enough like me for her to pass you by without a second thought."

Dib grabbed the large spike of his hair so that he could look at it, and growled in annoyance at having to dye it, but other than that, said nothing. Red and Purple, on the other hand, were not interested.

"Earth clothes? Icky Earth clothes? I'm not wearing those!" Red tossed his nose into the air and huffed proudly. 

"Can't we just travel by night?" Purple suggested, "We'll stay out of sight, and we'll try not to-

But Terrin wasn't paying any attention to them. He was busy pulling something out of his pocket.

"Cool!" Dib said, snatching it away from the boy before he could use it. "This looks like some sort of hologram projector! Is this of human design?"

"Yes!" Terrin grabbed it back. He fiddled around with it for a moment, studying Dib, then a screen on the device, the Dib again. Then there was a slight flash, and Dib was dressed exactly as Terrin was, trench coat and all. And his hair was purple.

"Hey! My old trench coat!"

Terrin failed to hear this comment, as he was now busy studying Red.

"Hmmm…"

Red suddenly found himself in a nicely designed hologram, surrounding his form to make him look like a perfectly normal height human, dressed in a nice pair of black slacks, and a red silk shirt. A moment later Purple was in exactly the same outfit, except that he had a purple shirt on. 

Ketric hummed in approval. "Nice taste."

Terrin glanced up at him, and said smartly, "I picked out something that would make them look like a gay couple." 

Dib snickered.

"What's a 'gay couple'?" Red asked.

"Let's get out of here," Purple said scowling.

The strange group began to wander off when suddenly Dib stopped. "What about-

Gir was standing at the base of his master's prison, sobbing loudly, and pounding his fists against the thick glass.

"Gir!" Ketric called. "Come on, I'll keep you at my house and tell my parents that you're a new version of a mechanoid with speech capabilities that I bought with my allowance money."

The robot looked back. "Stay with the red-eyed human?"

"Yes."

"Yay!"

Okay, next chapter: Bitters Reminders- in which two unsuspecting Irken invaders meet our gang, and Dib gets a lesson from an old teacher. Stay tuned!


	5. Bitters Reminders

A/N: Okiday! Here it is, the fifth chapter, and not nearly finished! WAHOO!!! This is destined to be a long fic. :::::sigh::::: Also, it's time for some thank yous, so here goes: Thanks to "The Symphony of Madness" for my glorious copy of the Pepper Anne theme song (if you would mind explaining that one, I am still curious^~) thank you to foxstar (yay! Cool name!) thank you to Dark Destiny for the lovely li'l note you sent me to continue my fic. Thanx to Katrina Irene for leaving the traditional cliffhanger dissing, Purple for giving me a NIIICCEEE BIIIIG LOOOONNNNNGG "wow" and a laugh at my "gay couple". Thank you to Purple's Right Hand Girl for sending me those curious little dialogues and for being a fan of the fabulous Pur! Thank you LOTS AND LOTS to Kat23 for warning me about my craptacular description and for not letting her head explode all over my fic. Thank you CrimsonObsession for finding my fic and enjoying it (and for realizing that I am indeed a fabulous writer *is smacked by Maggamalopolis* well not quite, but close enough!) And last but not least, Chien, who was apparently, quote, "too damn lazy to sign in". But that's okay, I'm happy with the review anyway!!!! Thank you all very much, keep reading, I guarantee it will get more interesting! 

Disclaimer: Did you ever wonder if Jhonen comes to this site and checks our stuff? Do you think he really wanders around and says, "AHHA! HERE'S ONE WITHOUT A DISCLAIMER! ANOTHER DOOMED TEENAGER TRYING TO STEAL MY CHARECTORS! I MUST **SUE!!!!!!!!**

Yeah, neither do I. But just in case he does send Nny after me, I'm just going to say that "I DON'T OWN INVADER ZIM!" I do own my own characters, but you can use them as long as you email me first. 

Fifth chapter:

Terrin sat on his roof, gazing out towards the stars once more. Beside him sat Mav, who was fiddling around with the old radio and attempting to pick up "aliens", and then be famous. 

Terrin would normally have laughed, scruffed up his little brother's hair, and told him to keep trying. After last evening, however, all he could do was let out a wry chuckle and continue to stare up at the stars.

Mav crawled over to Terrin, then seeing that his brother was not paying any attention to his approach, threw himself on top of the teenager. 

Terrin "oofed", and the two promptly began wrestling with each other.

Purple watched in fascination at the human idea of play from the opposite end of the roof, where he, Red, and Dib were hidden under a small travel-size cloaking device, which also conveniently blocked out sound.

Dib had his eye glued (quite literally, after his and Red's "slight" argument) to a telescope, which, after getting over the initial shock of having his eyelid pasted to a large, heavy piece of metal, the human seemed to be finding quite fascinating.

"Pur," he called, "Hey Purple, come take a look at this!"

"I would, except that the telescope is glued to _your_ eye."

"Yeah… uh, well- the whole sky is different! I mean, it's winter, and these are all summer constellations!"

"I could have told you that without getting my eye glued to the telescope," Red muttered. He, too, was now glued to a random object. However, his was not quite as convenient as Dib's.

"How 'bout this, Dib," Red proposed, "You get this Earthling-feline creature off of my leg, and I'll take the telescope from your pathetic human eye? OW!"

"Good thing you weren't planning on reproducing," Purple said between chortles

Dib snickered, "Gosh, Red, talk about destroying the family jewels."

"What about my offer, fiendish human-creature?" Red yowled, as once again his feline friend attempted to get comfortable.

"Mmm… maybe later. I'm enjoying this for the moment."

"Are you guys gonna take down the cloaky-thingy, or am I gonna have to walk off the roof trying to find you?"

Purple pressed a small button on the arm of his armor with a slender finger after checking to see that Mav had truly gone down to his room, and that Terrin was alone as he stood waiting for them.

When the cloak lifted to reveal the two aliens and Dib, Terrin raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Is there a reason worth wasting air over as to why you have Mr. Happy super-glued to your leg, and my brother's telescope to your eye?"

Dib and Red shook their heads.

"Alright."

"Do you have anything we could use to delude the super stickyness?" Red asked, his voice notably highter.

"Yeah," Terrin said giving the Irken a strange look, "considering that's the really strong stuff my _ten-year-old brother_ uses to put together his hover-toys."

Red heaved a high-pitched sigh of relief.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*

"Hey Dib?" Terrin whispered to the man, who was slinking at the back of the pack, behind the two Irkens, and previously behind Terrin.

"Mm?"

"Would you mind staying back here until I get those two over the fence- just to make sure we're not being followed?"

Dib nodded quickly, and then darted off to hide in the shadows of the school. Terrin made sure that Red and Purple kept moving towards the fence.

"Do we have to do this right next to water?" Red whined.

"I do, for once, agree with Red. Isn't it a bit… risky? If these Irkens really do want to kill us or something…

Dib listened until their voices died out in the distance, and then engrossed himself in the business of watching the night. He would wait for about a minute before catching up with the others. He sighed, and began to review the day's events in his head when he was interrupted by the sound of slithering, and a small hiss.

He jumped, and spun to stare in amazement at the figure that stood in front of him. 

"I thought I told you to stay off school grounds after that time you blew up the science lab with your doomed equipment," Ms. Bitter hissed.

"I, uh-

"Well it doesn't matter, you're doomed anyway. But you could have been less doomed than you are now. You could have learned not to trust everyone you come across, like I tried to teach you."

"Are you saying that one of those boys is going to-

"It has nothing to do with anyone you're travelling with now. And even if it did, you were doomed from the beginning, so what's it matter?"

"Well…"

"Mister Membrane, you shouldn't do this. It's dangerous, you know."

"Yes. I know-

"You're doomed. You should have listened to what your sister was telling you. But you're really doomed now. Doomed. Doomed."

"Ms. Bitters-

"Get out of there, Mister Membrane."

"Huh?"

"Get out of there quickly, you doomed child, or you will doom everything. Doomed. Everything doomed. All because of you and that other doomed trouble maker…"

"Zim?"

"Doomed. Doomeddoomeddoomed. Doomed. Doom. Doom doom doom doomed…"

*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Dib ran up with a wacky grin on his face, panting.

"Were we followed?"

"Nope. Just felt like running back to… wake myself up."

"Uhhuh. Anyway…"

Terrin pushed back the metal fence, along with the large "keep out" sign, so that Dib and he could go under. The Tallest were too tall, and had to climb over it.

After Purple finally shoved Red over, then clambered over himself, the four travelers made their way across the deserted field, to where the silhouette of a young boy and two glowing, baby blue eyes stood waiting for them. 

"When are our guests supposed to arrive?" Dib asked. He was answered by a whoosh of air, and the soft sound of crushing grass as a large green and violet craft landed beside them. The two Tallest, teenagers, and Dib stared in wonder as a highly advanced voot runner was revealed to them quite suddenly. 

The door opened, and two forms stumbled unceremoniously onto the grass, coughing, and cursing at each other in the Irken tongue.

No blinding white back-lighting, or slow, mysterious entrance for the two uncouth aliens. They toppled onto the ground as small sparks flew out of the ship behind them.

One was a five-foot-seven, swarthy female with opal-like eyes that shimmered as she moved, and the other was a blunt, gray-eyed critter, standing about five-foot-three. He was quite obviously looking for trouble, as he brandished a large silver weapon as he descended towards the three humans, robot, and Tallests.

Seeing that Red and Purple, whether the Invaders liked it or not, were indeed quite tall, they both bowed. Then they stood up strait and looked at them suspiciously.

"You didn't inform us that there were going to be human accompaniments," the woman said.

"We didn't have to tell you _anything_, short ones," Red growled. 

"Not to contradict you, Red," Purple said quickly, "but neither of them are really that short. Which brings up the question of why they are Invaders…?" He raised a questioning eyebrow at the unfamiliar aliens.

"With all due respect, sirs," the woman said through gritted teeth, "I am not required to share that information with you."

"Well how about this," Terrin said, stepping forwards, "You shut up with the 'off-limits' crap, and respect your… tall people. Even if they aren't the tallest aliens you've ever seen, they're still taller than you, so if you wanna keep your heads till next week, I suggest you start talking!"

"Come here and say that to my face, Earth filth!" the gray eyed alien threatened, stepping forwards and holding up his gun.

"Alright I wi-

"We have been sent to planet Earth by the Almighty Tallest Tetter to conquer it for the Irken Empire. It is one of the last five thousand nine hundred seven planets yet to be conquered by our species thanks to the contributions of Tallest Smivy 2 dexhal ago when he killed off our weak-hearted rulers, Tallest Red and Tallest Purple!" The female Irken shoved her partner out of the way, and stepped forwards so that she was standing just before the two Tallests, who were, safe to say, dumbstruck. 

"Now," she continued, "if you want to try to convince me that you really are Tallests Red and Purple, go right on ahead, but, so that you are forewarned, that gives us the right to put guns to your heads and blow your brains out without so much as a disciplinary trial. Now tell me again- what are your names?"

"So tell me again," Purple said looking at Red, "Why was this the only time you didn't bring a laser with you?"

*^*^*^^*^*^*

"Yes sir, we have them. They're in the cargo bay being watched by Private Genghis. Also, repairs to the ships plasma core have been made, so weapons and speed capabilities are back on line."

"Good work General. You say they have humans with them?"

"Yes, my Tallest."

"Do they know where the mines are?" Tallest Tetter asked. He sat in the large, hovering metal chair which was done up in forest green to match his eyes, and watched in satisfaction as General Dettia smiled wickedly.

"They may not now," Dettia cooed, her opal eyes turning to slits in anticipation, "but they will when I'm done with them."

With a gruesome smile, Tetter gazed at the lovely young Irken, and said, "Good job, General. Keep this work up, and you may just find yourself in a higher position than even _you_ can imagine. Almighty Tallest Tetter over and out."

"Sir!" Dettia saluted quickly, and watched as her screen went blank. She turned, and placed her hand on the black pad on the arm of her chair. A moment later she found herself in the cargo bay, staring at Tallests Red and Purple, Dib, Ketric, Terrin, and Gir, strapped to the walls with thick metal chord that sprouted from the walls. Holding a gun and watching in silence was Genghis.

"Alright, petty humans, Tallests. It's time for you to start talking." 

Getting the hint, Genghis came up behind her and cocked his weapon with a smirk. 

Dettia looked at her captives as something cold and heartless flickered in her eyes. 

"Or else."

*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Almighty Tallest Tetter leaned back in his chair with a sigh as he heard his advisor come up behind him. 

"I've done as you said," he turned around to eye the curious figure walking towards him, "Now what?"

The Irken stood nearly seven feet tall, identical in height to the two Irkens now held captive on Earth, and several inches taller than Tetter. 

Black eyes peered out from under a dark hood, and long black robes sheathed the albino body, hiding everything but bone white hands. The contrasts of color was dizzying to any onlooker, the Tallest not excluded. 

"If everything goes as planned," he said in a harsh whisper, "all you have to do now is wait."

AHHA! ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER! _Bwahahahahahahah!_ I _am_ sorry about the fact that I've answered your questions with more things to brood over, but I think you will agree with me that this is part of the glory of this fic! *looks around, spots a dozen fanfic authors standing with battle axes in their hands glaring at her* Okay! I'd say it's time to go start writing more… hehe, right guys? 

Guys?


	6. A Slippery Justice

A/N: Hehe. J Now I can e-mail you back, Chien ^.^ Well, this portion of the story is _really_ starting to pick up the pace, and I promise I will try to answer at least one of the questions asked in the reviews! And Kat23, I have no idea _what_ you seem to find similar between the tall pale alien dude in robes in my story, and the tall pale alien dude in robes in Star Wars… begins whistling the Star Wars theme song suspiciously. *suddenly begins singing***** "ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG! YOU MIGHT'A HEARD I RUN WITH A DANGEROUS CROWD, WE AIN'T TOO PRETTY, WE AIN'T TOO PROUD! WE MIGHT BE LAUGHIN' A BIT TOO LOUD- BUT THAT NEVER HURT NO ONE!" (YAY! I LURVE THAT SONG!)

Disclaimer: Nope, dun own 'em. Wait, lemme check- nope, still dun own 'em. (and whats-his-name owns that song. hehe-specific)

Mav was poked awake by a slim arm, at the other end of which was his hover-bot. He raised his head, and pushed himself up in his chair. He must have fallen asleep while waiting for the hover-bot that he had sent after Terrin with the micro-camera and the audio system attacked to return.

He looked at his hover-bot, and saw that there was only half of it staring back at him. The other half must have broken off to continue following Mav's brother, sending this half back to show him what it had recorded so far. 

Mav quickly grabbed the screwdriver off of his counter top, popped open the top of his bot, and pulled out the micro-camera with a pair of tweezers. He then placed the camera on the scanner. A red beam of light ran across the camera several times, and a holo-image of Terrin's adventures appeared before him. 

Seeing at first the pair of identically dressed figures was strange enough, but Mav figured that they were just two of Terrin's friends. But then seeing double of his brother, Mav couldn't help but become just the _slightest_ bit suspicious.

The camera watched as the four people made their way into the middle of the reservoir field. Mav knew that place, and was upset to see his brother going there to meet up with anther boy and his ground-bot with three other people. 

They were speaking with each other for a few minutes before the craft landed beside them. The two men- the one in the red shirt and the other in the purple –were suddenly deserted by what had apparently been holograms, though no one else in the group seemed to notice, and were left in their tall, green alien forms and strange armor. As well, the second "Terrin" was suddenly no longer an exact duplicate of Mav's brother, but someone different.

The strange alien ship opened, and out stepped two aliens. Then, after several moments, all of them were surrounded by a laser field, and then slowly herded into the ship, where their arms and legs were bound to the walls, and the aliens began questioning them.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*

"So Red," Dettia said looking at the Tallest, "I hear you like lasers a lot, am I correct?"

Red nodded. Purple snorted.

"You humans have lasers by now, right?" she asked, turning to Terrin. Terrin glared at her, and said simply:

"Yes."

"So you have skooling to learn about these lasers, correct?"

"Yes."

"And in this skooling, your teachers taught you a number of things, mm?"

"Yes."

"Did they ever teach you about a substance called Kitronium?"

"No."

"Dionite?"

"No."

"Silver?"

Terrin looked up at her. "Yeah. I know about silver."

"So you do! You admit it! Tell me, then, where are the mines? Where are they?"

"What mines? Silver mines? I dunno."

"You, human," Dettia asked, prodding Ketric with her long, cattle-prod-like instrument, "Do you know what mines I speak of? Will this refresh your memory?"

She pulled the device away from the teenager, and turned it on so that a strip of blue lightning flew between the two prongs on the end and busied itself there. Then she moved it closer to Ketric again, putting the electricity right before his eyes to sizzle there, and warn the boy that if he said the wrong thing, his nose was going to be singed clear off of his face.

"Y- y'know- I don't think he knows anything," Terrin said quickly, and the cattle prod went dead as Dettia lifted her finger from the switch and whirled to study the teen.

"And I suppose you do?"

"I didn't say that! I just don't think any of us have the information that you want!"

"Mm. Yes, I suppose that _is_ possible. But then if it were true, I would simply do _any_ kind of torture on you, and not have to worry that your mind stay in tact so that the information we need is still accessible. So I wonder- is it better that you _have_ the information, or _not_ have the information? What do you think, human?" Dettia turned to Dib.

"Listen, I know what you want. But I don't have it. If we're going to get it, we need to go back to the base. Zim's base."

The woman smiled and leaned close to him, placing her lips beside his ear, and said quietly, "Do you want to know something?" Dib said nothing, and simply watched her through wary eyes. "That's not going to happen!" she shouted in his ear. The human winced, and the Irken pulled away so that she had her back to them.

"If you all are going to just continue being uncooperative, I'm going to make you realize that your theory is flawed," she spun suddenly and bared her snap-lock teeth at them. Her opal eyes caught the glow of the tiny red lights that were always blinking around the ship, and turned into fiery pits. "Because I _never_ give up!"

She drew back, and the last thing Dib heard before his vision went clear to blurry to black, was the sound of the cracking and sizzling of the cattle-prod device being activated.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*

"What do you mean none of them know anything?"

"I've been at them for hours, sir. My techniques have _always_ broken people before. They simply may not know what we need. Or they've been incredibly well trained. Uh, Almighty Tallest, permission to speak freely?"

"Permission granted."

"My Tallest, if I may, these humans don't seem that important, now that I know they don't have any information. It would be incredibly… satisfying if I were able to… release some of my tension on one of them?"

"Are you asking for a human to torture?"

"Yes my Tallest."

"Uhh- one, General. But you know how tricky those humans can be, so be careful. And make sure it is still alive when you get here, alright?"

"Yes my Tallest. This means that you would like me to set a strait course for the Massive2?"

"Yes general. And do what you can with the captives you have while you're on your way, would you?"

"Sir! Yes, sir!"

"Good job general. Dismissed."

"Thank you, sir."

*^*^*^*^*^*^*

"Sometimes that woman scares me with how power mad she is," Tetter muttered, then he turned to the Irken standing behind him, "Not to mention- she _loves_ to torture things."

"Just think of it this way," said the figure in the robes, "At least she doesn't torture the things she loves. Then you would really have to worry."

"Yeah. I guess so, especially if our plans are to go through this summer."

"Indeed. A habit for torturing the things she loves may… spoil your relationship."

Tetter gave an unamused snort. "Just a little."

"What are you going to do with the prisoners once they get here?"

"Beat the information out of them."

The black-eyed Irken glided around the hovering chair so that he was standing before the Tallest Tetter. "And what if they don't have the information you want? Then what? Spend another half of the governments funds to send two more of the Irken military's finest to Earth?"

"They _have_ the information, I'm sure of it."

"No, there you are wrong, Tetter. They _don't_ have the information. They know how to _get_ it to you, yes, but they don't _have_ the information itself."

Tetter glared angrily at the figure before him. "You are very wise, Smivy, which is the only reason I haven't uncovered you for using Irken technology for such personal, and _forbidden_ tasks, such as sustaining your life for so long. But if you dare try to steal this information for your own use when these humans get here, I will uncover you like the plagued rat that you are."

Black eyes peered out at Tetter from under the hood for a moment longer before bone-like hands reached up to push the fabric away from the face.

Revealed was an Irken, pale as chalk, but looking as young as Red and Purple when they had been Tallests. Slightly drooped antenna were pointed strait back in annoyance, and eyes like vacuums formed dangerous slits as they gazed at the Tallest, who was making futile attempts to feign nonchalance. A long black scar ran across one eye, and formed a blade-like shape. It was the first time that Tetter had seen his guide revealed.

"There is unease in your ranks, Tetter. Your people are beginning to believe that you are just as weak as Red and Purple. You must do something terrifying and intelligent at once for them to respect you once more. Something that will make all other species we come across bow to us in fear. But you do not know how to do that. If you were to be killed in an usurping, it would be I who would take over, seeing as I am taller even than you. And the people still respect me. The reason I guide you now is that, after my years of work, I find it interesting to sit back and relax for a while. But I would be just as happy to take over again. And you, Tetter. I do not fear your petty threats." He pulled his hood up again, and turned to walk from the room. "The people will follow me- wherever I go."

*^*^*^*^*^*^*

It felt like forever to Ketric, being tied to a cold metal wall, and watching an unchanging environment for nearly three weeks. Their only source of food was a small loaf of bread, double-killed beef, and a miniature glass of water. Their privy circumstances were, to say the least, uncomfortable.

He couldn't possibly imagine where it was they were going that was taking them so long, but he dreaded the fact that, considering they were on a space ship, they could possibly be going to another planet. 

"Genghis!" came a voice over an intercom, "Make sure those humans are strapped down- we're docking in 20kai, and if the humans get loose on the Massive2, we might as well eject ourselves into space to prevent further punishment." 

"Yes, ma'am!" Genghis said. He turned to look at his prisoners. 

"Computer," he said, "translators off all Irkens."

"Does that do what I think it does?" Ketric asked Dib. 

"Why don't you ask them?" Dib replied, pointing to Red, Purple, and Genghis. 

Ketric looked at Purple. "Does that mean that we won't be able to understand you any more?" 

"K-ghtacti ujjyd."

"My guess would be," Terrin said, with a glance at Ketric, "that that was a yes."

Genghis began pacing as the clanking, grinding sounds of the docking began playing monotonously in the background. 

A thick Irken voice came over the speaker, and said to the members of the ship: "Tek'tak'tikall nie heghhu nuffif."

"God-bless-you," Terrin growled. Then something caught his eye. Dib was giving him a strange look. His eyes kept flickering from Terrin's gaze to the small cup of water next to his hand. 

Terrin looked at the water, and then suddenly understood. The two tall green aliens had been complaining about being near water when they had been going to the reservoir, but Terrin had just figured they were being the wimps that they were. But now that Dib seemed to find the water overly fascinating, Terrin figured that water must in some way impede the aliens. Terrin tried to scrunch himself as close to the water as he could. Genghis, seeing his efforts, brought the gun down in his face I threateningly. Terrin nodded his head to the water, as if to say that he needed a sip. 

Genghis brought the gun away from the teenager's face. He knelt, and untied Terrin's hands so that he could get to the glass of water. Terrin reached slowly for the glass of water, and brought it to his lips as carefully, so as not to arouse suspicion, or move too quickly for the alien's pleasure. He waited until the ship had stopped moving altogether, and then flung the glass of water at the alien.

The water splattered the unsuspecting alien right in the eyes. The alien let out a cry and stumbled, dropping his gun so that his hands could go to his agonized face. Terrin reacted quickly, snatching up the gun from his position, and pointing it at the alien. 

"Now listen, you sorry sack of green trash, bend down slowly, and untie all of us. And don't think I don't know how to use this thing- I can fire anything with a trigger."

"Well then," Dib said quickly, "maybe you should point the gun at the _alien_!"

Terrin quickly reversed the gun's position, just in time for the alien to turn around and have the barrel in his face. His gray eyes were streaked with red lines, and he looked as though he was about to begin steaming from his ears. But even without the translator, the alien got the point. He knelt and untied all of the hostages. Then Terrin rammed the butt of the blade into his head, and the Irken toppled onto the floor.

"Yay!" Gir shouted. Dib hushed the little robot quickly. 

"Let's go, before the other alien comes."

"Ititun hifter noff?" Purple asked.

"No," Terrin replied, simply to say something in response.

"Nofferf midachek," Dib said suddenly. He looked at Terrin and said, "Pur is simply wondering why it is he's breaking out of a ship that he technically ownes, given his position." 

"Heta nomdiy," Purple whispered to the computer, which beeped in recognition, and suddenly Terrin had the funny feeling that someone was wrapping a tight cloth around his throat.

"Turned the translators onto you humans," he explained.

The door at the front of the cabin slid open, and in the doorway stood the Irken woman. When she spotted the escaping prisoners, her eyes widened in surprise and fury.

"Not a chance in Malasia!" she shouted.

"Isn't Malaisia a small European country-

But Terrin was suddenly cut off by Dib yelling, "Duck!" and suddenly having to drop to the floor as a streak of blue lightning flew over his head.

The prisoners stood and made a wild dash for the doorway. Red and Purple slammed the woman into the wall and held her there until the weaker humans were out of the door, and then they both did their best to incapacitate her, at least until they were all off of the ship. 

"Now stay there," Red said, strapping the Irken General to the wall with the same metal strips that she had used to keep them there earlier, with the quick addition of her partner Genghis, and then ran.

They ran to the front of the ship, where Red and Purple grabbed what looked like hand cuffs without the chain, and strapped them around Dib's wrists. That human was more than willing to comply, but Terrin and Ketric too one look at the contraptions, and refused. 

"We're going to make it look like Red and Pur are herding us in to the prison," Dib said quickly. "Now hurry up, and put your hands in them before our friends in the back find some way to get out and warn the people on the ship about our escape."

Reluctantly, Terrin and Ketric placed their hands through the small "bracelet-cuffs", which then tightened to fit perfectly about their wrists. 

"C'mon. If anyone says anything to you, pretend you can't understand him or her. You act like we're carting you off to prisoner cells as best you can, alright?"

The humans nodded, and Red and Purple shoved them out of the craft harshly, and onto the Massive2.

Suddenly they were among the aliens. In every direction there were different shades of green, and colorful eyes, in a sea that spanned for what must have been miles through the dimly lit red, violet, and green spaceship. They were traveling quickly in every direction, in a very abstract pattern, and yet, still somehow in conformity. 

The Irkens darted out of the way for the two Tallests, seeing as they were at least two feet taller than the next tallest Irken within view. Also the humans were taller than most of the aliens too, but were hardly as recognized.

Red and Purple walked through the crowd with their heads held high, tossing the humans like rag-doll toys that they were keeping for their own pleasure, and other than getting out of their way, the surrounding Irkens did not notice them.

The Massive2 was almost exactly identical to the first, with the exception that all of it's proportions were larger, and it had twelve more docking bays, so the Tallest had little trouble navigating their way through. Instinctively they head toward the area where they suspected, if anyone _was_ looking for them by now, they would hardly think to look. 

The prison cells.

There was a sleepy, rotund little guard waiting at the entrance, who snapped quickly to attention seeing two extremely tall figures waiting over him.

"Sirs!" he said a bit too loudly, showing his surprise, "I-I-

"Guard," Purple said imperiously, "we request a soundproof interrogation room. Immediately."

"Yes sirs!"

The guard scribbled something quickly onto a piece of paper, but stopped when a shout erupted from behind them all. 

Three Irken soldiers dimed a corner at the other end of the hall. 

"Freeze!" the one in the front shouted, holding up a small gun. The Tallests, three humans, and robot all burst into a run. However, there was a small problem with that.

About fifteen feet down the hall there was a force field, meant to keep prisoners in, but just as effective at keeping the six escapees out. They came to a quick halt, and looked around frantically for a way out, but simply turned around to face the Irken guards.

"We have them cornered, sir," the tallest Irken, standing at the front of the three officers, said into a wrist communicator.

"Not so fast!" Red said, bringing around the large gun, and pointing it furiously at the three soldiers. He pulled down the trigger, but the weapon failed to fire. He cursed quite colorfully, and then threw the gun to the floor, as his spider legs came out of his pod. Purple also now stood on his spider legs. The three soldiers held up their guns, and one of them blew out the tips of reds spider legs in several shots. The legs folded back in, and once more Purple did the same, to prevent any injury to his own equipment.

"What's going on?" asked a rather confused guard, who was watching as the soldiers rounded up the escaped prisoners, and began forcing them down the hall in the opposite direction again.

"That information is classified. You never saw these prisoners, and you never saw us catch them," said the Irken soldier again.

The guard saluted, and then sat in his chair, as if this sort of thing happened every day, which, Dib was sure, it did not.

The soldiers, pleased with themselves about their catch, were now proudly leading them directly to Almighty Tallest Tetter, and his assistant.

Caught! Uhoh! Now what will our hero's do? Tune in next chapter to find out! YAY!!! This is so much fun to write. The chapters will probably start coming in slower now, but I'll do my best to get one or two up a week, kk? YAY! (that's my favorite word!) Next chapter: Not everything turns out to quite as it seems. Hmm. This may actually go faster than I thought. I'm moving very quickly. :::::sigh::::: well, we'll see, wont we?


	7. A Lonely Stardome

A/N: Okiday- I was meaning to get this chapter out a little earlier, but due to my great lazyness (and lack of time) I was unable to do so. BUT HERE IT IS! YAY! I want you to know that I have NO plan whatsoever for this chapter, so you'll have to forgive me if it's a bit… awkward feeling. I'll stop talking, say quickly that I own NONE of the IZ chara's because I'm too lazy to make an actual disclaimer, ask that if you want to use my characters that you email me first, an continue the story! BTW! There is now fan-art for this fic! Check out a character pic of Terrin, with MUCHO BIGGO THANXO to Sanquine Symphony, at:

www.side7.com/cgi-bin/S7SDB/DisplayImg.pl?INO=96511

Also thanx to all those who have given me ideas on where to find all of those eps. Anyway- on with the story!

Ch.7.

^*^*^*^*^*^

Mav ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and dashed into the kitchen, where his mother was busy paying bills.

"Mom!" he cried, "Mom! Terrin's in trouble!"

^*^*^*^*^*^

Blindfolded, Terrin was tossed harshly to the floor, and heard Dib and Ketric fall beside him. Red and Purple and the small robot Gir were all being put in a separate room, and Terrin could hear the SIR unit's piercing wails, as well as Red's angry ranting. But the noise was cut out when there was a loud bang, as the doors to the chamber slammed shut angrily.

The boy pushed himself up and shook his head to clear it. "These stupid aliens! That Red guy's right for once," he reached up and pulled the blindfold from his face, rubbing his eyes from the scratchy material, "we _should_ take a laser to all of-

He stopped.

His anger and fear faded away into awe. He was mute, dumbstruck by the magnificence of the site lain before him. Dib and Ketric sat up too and pulled off their own blindfolds to see what it was that had suddenly silenced Terrin. Both of them had the same reaction.

They sat in silence for a while more to truly take in the beauty of their surroundings.

The ground was solid beneath them, though one would not have been able to tell by just looking at it-the sense of vertigo was just barely washed away by shock. Above them was a domed ceiling, which was only visible when the lights of the tractor beam caught in it and turned it into a shimmering halo. It was about the size of a small classroom. But it was what was outside their "cell", surrounding it like a shimmering blanket, which held the true glory.

The stars resembled a thick pile of glitter strewn across black marble, the nearby moon, pitted and scarred, loomed darkly below them. And to their side, in the direction that they had come, was the ship. The ship had to be bigger than all of the state of Alaska, Terrin guessed. It spanned endlessly into the distance, the color of malachite, and small "windows" peered out at the world beyond. Scattered about the ship were dozens of other "glass" (for Terrin was positive that the material holding them was not glass) chambers, all of them holding different species of aliens. 

Once over the initial shock, though whispering because it seemed to be the appropriate thing to do, Dib was overcome with the need to break the deafening silence with a comment.

"Very effective prisoner cells, you have to admit," he said.

Ketric nodded.

"Store someone out in the middle of space in some sort of clear containment-thingy, and they're not likely to try to escape any time soon," Terrin muttered.

"They must be holding us in place with some sort of low-power tractor beam. If not, then they must have one hell of a power source- I mean, look at all of the prisoners they're keeping!" Dib gestured out into space, and began to get himself warmed up for a long ranting. "Not to mention, they have to have enough power to run the ship with! The science put into this is incredible! They also must have invented some sort of clear material that they can bend at their will. Or maybe… Maybe the ship's not holding us in a tractor beam- we're holding it! Maybe these cells produce their own energy, which they can also use to shift forms and allow other people to enter and-

"Hey guys, the tractor beam thing is betting brighter, and there's and alien walking in it towards us."

Indeed, Ketric was right. What had before been a pale orange, barely visible beam of light, was now a bright orange tunnel, and in it was a determined looking Irken. He or she was hidden beneath black robes, and the only thing visible of it was a pale hand gripping a knife. 

Another Irken, a red clad figure who was a good four feet shorter than the other, came running down the tunnel towards the alien in robes. He was obviously pleading, for he had his hands clasped together, and his eyes were wide as his mouth moved furiously in speech. The pale Irken slashed back with the knife, and the short green alien just barely darted out of the way. 

The Irken in red gave one last hopeless look it's target, then shook his head. Silver spider shot from the pod on his back and hoisted him high into the air. Then he turned around, and went back the other way, towards the ship again. The tall Irken in black robes continued on his way to the cell.

Dib suddenly stood, alarming the two boys. 

"He's coming here! He's coming here, and he has a knife in his hand!"

"Who is he?"

"I don't know, but that doesn't matter- he has a _knife_! And he's coming _here_!"

The Irken was now only several yards from the chamber, and closing quickly with his long strides. The two teenagers stood too, and waited his arrival with bated breath. 

When the Irken reached the chamber, he pressed four long, slender fingers against the outside of the cell. The walls turned red under his fingertips, and then they began to melt back, and allow the alien to enter.

Once he was in, the walls snapped shut behind him with a metallic clang. 

He stood there, staring down at them for a while. Then he pulled back his hood, and smiled. 

"Hello, Dib."

Dib's eyes widened, but the human said nothing. 

"You're mad at me?"

"Of course I'm mad at you! You-you…"

"I'm what Dib? I didn't spend two millennia in a cryochamber beside you, so now you're angry? You know it was all to save your sister, no?"

Dib looked down at the floor, and his expression darkened. "Where are you keeping Red and Pur?"

"They're fine, if that's what you really want to know. They're in a cell similar to the one you're in now, and quite comfortable now that they're back among the stars. Gir, as well, is enjoying himself."

"You're Smivy, aren't you?" Terrin said, pointing an accusing finger at the alien. 

The alien nodded. "One of them, yes."

Terrin blinked. "You mean there are more than one of yourself?" 

Smivy looked down and chuckled darkly. "No, no. If I were a true clone in the meaning of the word, I would not have this…" he glanced down at his milky white skin, his black eyes narrowed dangerously, "defect," he spat. "Clones are genetically altered to have a special organ in the back of their brain which releases a toxin that kills off all invading cells; things that would cause sicknesses in Invaders going to foreign planets with germs they're not immune to. Things that would cause cancerous tumors. And things that would cause birth defects. It gives one of these organs to each birth pod, and then moves on to the next one. This technology, however, does not allow for twins. If the system senses two life forms in one birth pod, it will spray out a small amount of poison, and wait until one of the children dies. Then it will place the organ in the living one's brain, figuring that this will be the strong one, and the cell will protect the fetus from the poison's harm. Unfortunately, the machine caught my twin and I too late, and injected the poison only moments before our 'birth' time. So it put the poison in the cell, and randomly picked out one of the children to put the organ in."

Ketric looked up at the alien in shock. "I'm guessing you didn't get the organ," he said sympathetically.

Smivy smiled wickedly, and moved his face close to the boy. "Not only that," he hissed, "But the poison _did this_ to me."

The alien went to pull away, but stopped. He studied the boy's red eyes harshly, and reached forwards a tentative claw to lift Ketric's chin so that his face was in the light.

The alien suddenly drew back, and grabbed Terrin's hand. He pulled the boy closer to him, so that he could see him better, and snatched the spike of purple hair violently.

"Hey! Hey, get off my hair!"

Smivy tossed Terrin backwards. The boy stumbled and just barely caught his balance before he fell. 

"Their children," Smivy hissed. His eyes held a crazed, lost look, and his lips drew back to reveal razor sharp teeth. "Their _children_!" he howled. He raised the knife above his head, and let out a cry like an angry cat.

The knife came forwards towards Terrin, and the boy had no time to react. The knife came down, and down. But before it could touch Terrin, Smivy was tugged backwards.

The alien let out a surprised shout, and the knife fell from his fingers, as two long green arms in forest green armor clasped around his waist, and pulled him backwards.

Smivy's surprise quickly turned to rage, and the alien flailed in an attempt to free himself from whomever it was that was holding him. His captor tossed him backward, hard into the wall on the other side of the cell. Smivy smashed into the wall with a loud clang of armor, which was obviously hidden beneath the robes, then he slid to the floor in a heap of black cloth. 

Tetter rubbed his arm as if he had hurt it gripping Smivy, and stared down at the humans, who were perfectly content to stare back.

"Alright you stupid aliens," he growled, "your lives had _better_ be worth turning him against me."

Dib stomped forwards to stand eye to neck with the alien. "Whatever it is that you want, we don't have it! We don't have it, and we can't get it for you! Just let us go, because keeping us here is a waste of _both_ of our time and energy."

Tetter chuckled darkly, and eyed Dib with his forest green eyes, which looked strange against his olive skin.

"You think that because I saved all of your lives, I'm the good guy? Sorry, little Dib, but you're calculations are faulty. I'm merely-

Tetter was cut off suddenly, as there was a loud clang, and the whole cell rocked violently. The three humans and the Irken looked up.

"It can't be…" Dib whispered.

"An antique voot runner?" Tetter said, gawking.

Zim's old craft pulled back, then charged the glass again.

"What's it doing?"

"Trying to break the tractor beam," said a voice from the corner of the room. Terrin looked up to see Smivy, standing once more, holding the knife in his hands, and not prepared to let it go. "And trying to keep me from doing anything drastic in the mean-time." The ship hit again, and this time, Smivy's long, silver spider legs shot out from his pod and steadied him. Then they pushed him into the air, and braced him from the next crash. Smivy grinned, and lunged forwards with the knife.

Red and Purple sat playing cards, on the terms that whomever lost the game would have to keep Gir occupied for the next hour. Gir had glued the top of his head to the domed ceiling of the cell, and was desperately trying to bend himself into a pretzel shape. 

"Go fish!" Red shouted, throwing his cards down and leaping to his feet. He did a quick victory lap around the room, and then raised a triumphant fist into the air. "Red wins again! Huzzah!"

Purple scratched his head, and raised a disembodied eyebrow. "Uh, Red? We're playing poker. Oh, and by the way, I have a royal flush."

Red stopped dancing, and stared at the cards Purple was flashing at him with a wicked grin.

"Nooooooo!"

There was a tapping on the glass of their cell, and Red and Purple looked up to where the sound was coming from. 

There was a small figure in an Irken space suit clinging to the "glass" of the cell walls, and holding a small laser in his hand. 

"Purple! Purple look!" Red shouted, falling to his knees, "It's the almighty god of the lasers, come to save us! Save us, oh holy creature of space! Saaaavvveee uuuusssss!"

"Red, it's the window washer."

Red continued to beg for mercy, so Purple brought out his spider legs, and lifted himself to the figure, who was staring at Red in utter confusion. "Hey you," Purple called through the pane of his containment field. "Get us out of here!"

The figure nodded, and went over to the tractor beam. He went through the pale orange light, which then solidified around him to form a tunnel. The tunnel created it's own artificial gravity, and the figure fell to the ground. Then he pushed himself up, and ran over to the cell. He pressed his hand against it, and blockade melted downwards, to permit Red, Purple, and Gir out. The figure pulled off his helmet, and the two aliens went slack-jawed when they saw their savior.

"Quickly," Mav said, "Before the distraction wears off!"

^*^*^*^*^*^

Smarf! WTF is Mav doin' there? Will Smivy kill Terrin and Ketric? Will Tetter succeed in getting the information he wants? Will Red ever win a game of poker? Will Gir ever succeed in making himself a pretzel? Will Gir try to eat himself once he becomes a pretzel? Whatever happened to Gaz, and why Is Smivy criminally insane????? Find out next time on- dundundun – The Angry Cheesepuff Show! *a polka begins playing in the background* *hoheehum bashes her head against the wall to the beat of the music* hoheehum: shut that off!!!!! *Country music begins playing* hoheehum: ahhh! MY EARS ARE BLEEDING! *Brittney Spears: I'm a Slave For You begins playing* hoheehum: AAAAAHHHHH!!! NOOOOOO!!! EARBANE!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO- *head explodes*


	8. A Past Less Traveled

A/N: Alright, I know I'm late, but let's just say that there was NO WAY that I was going to get out another chapter up before now! Anyway, I'm gonna try to get more up over spring break, cause I know this is short, but this chapter should be cool enough to keep you all satisfied 'till then. Uh. Yeah. Well, fanart would be ABSOLUTELY appreciated, but for now, check out Poe's pic at side7!

For Poe's pic: www.side7.com/cgi-bin/S7SDB/DisplayImg.pl?INO=96511

(thanx Poe!)

Disclaimer: You want the truth? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! (aka: I dun own Zim)

Chapter 8:

Mav raced down the corridor followed by two fairly disheveled Tallests, and Gir with his mouth duct-taped closed. The boy's Irken armor clanked softly as he ran, and weighed him down to the point where, after a while, Purple finally swooped down and snatched the boy up into his arms to carry him on his spider legs. 

"So explain this to me once again," Red said as his own spider legs, which had been repairing themselves after being shot out while stored in Red's pod, shot out of his pod, "Why is the human boy's younger brother the god of lasers?"

"He's not, Red!" Purple shouted, then winced as his voice rang loudly through the halls. "He's here to save us," he whispered.

"Computer," Mav whispered softly to the hovering craft by his head, "Which direction do we turn at this intersection to get to the preprogramed area?"

"Right," the hover-bot chirped. When the four travelers came to the intersection, the hover-bot swung around the corner ahead of them. Before them were two heavy metal doors. They shone a liquid silver color, and were bolted heavily across the front. Not to mention, two stout guards stood at attention. They stared angrily at Red and Purple and the human, not noticing either of the robots, but otherwise did nothing. Purple dropped Mav from quite a height. 

"Now if you give me any more trouble, human boy, I'll drop you from an even higher point," he said quickly. Mav rubbed his rump, but understood what the alien was doing, and said nothing, along with his best attempt at looking terrified. 

"I'll never do it again," he said quietly. He wrapped his arms tightly around his legs.

The guards looked down at the human curiously, then glanced back up at the two aliens, showing not the slightest hint of pity. "What is your business here?" the one asked, brandishing his laser slightly. At this, Red brightened considerably. 

"I'm here with another one of these humans. We discovered this one hiding in the ducts of the ship- it's a miracle he's not dead. He must have escaped detection earlier."

The guard nodded. "Identification?" he asked. 

Red and Purple looked at each other. "Uhh."

"Gosh, that's a mighty big laser you got there!" Mav said suddenly, reaching up to poke the protruding nose of the weapon at the guard's hip. The guard began to react, but he was cut short when he found himself suddenly pinned by Purple. Red lunged and grabbed the laser at the belt, while giving the guard a hard punch in the face. 

Red, laser in hand, then grabbed the other guard's weapon, and tossed it to Purple. He then snatched the shirt collars of both guards, and rammed their heads together, conveniently rendering them both unconscious. 

"You ain't bad, kid." Red plucked Gir from his position atop the alien's head, and dropped him beside Mav. "Now let's get in there and rescue those wimps." He then grinned broadly, and held up his laser. "Laser!" he shouted.

Purple brushed off his robes, stuck up his chin, and said, "I think I handled that well." Then he pressed a button on the panel beside the door, and the travelers charged in as the heavy metal parted to reveal a long orange tunnel. And at the end of the tunnel, was hell above. 

^*^*^*^*^*^

The Irken held the silver welding tool as orange sparks flew from it's end to meld the metal back to it's original undivided form. 

A human head swung around the corner to grin at him. 

"How're repairs going?"

"Mm." The alien drew away from his work, stopping the blowtorch, and removed the large goggles covering his eyes. "Slow, as usual."

"It's tough by hand, but it always turns out better than if it were to be done by a computer, especially when it comes to Zim's lab," Dib said.

"I know," Smivy replied dryly, "Remember _I_ was the one who nearly got my finger nearly bitten off by that blasted robot of his."

"Aww, Gir didn't mean any harm," Dib cooed. He walked the rest of the way around the corner. "It was just his way of saying he liked you!"

"That's what you think," the alien muttered tartly. 

Dib chuckled. "Listen," he said, "It's been a long day, and we're all gonna take a break. After some grub I was gonna call Red and Purple and tell them the date for when they should get their asses down here and sign the treaty with Earth."

"Sounds good. Would you all mind if I met you all little later at the shack? I just want to get this portion finished."

"Yes," Zim said, coming around the corner. "We demand you stop immediately and follow our instructions word for word, as we slowly take control of your _mind_!" The alien waved his hands in front of Smivy's face in mock mystery while singing a rather off-tune riff of "doo's" and "dee's."

Smivy shook his head with a smile, and shoved Zim back. At that moment, Gaz rounded the corner. Her face was covered in grease stains, and her hair was fizzing out of the small band that was supposed to be holding it in place. It was failing. Miserably. 

She wore simple black work clothes, a loose, scrub-like outfit that Gaz had managed to tear right down the front, as only Gaz could do. Dib snickered quietly, and Gaz nudged him in the side with her elbow. 

"Discussing the fate of the world again, gentleman?" she asked.

"Of course," Zim replied, slinging an arm around her hips and smiling derangedly at her. She laughed and shook her head.

"Get your own wife, brother!" Smivy said smiling at Zim, who took his hand from Gaz's waist and gave an innocent grin. 

"Anyway," Dib said chuckling, "Have you guys spoken with the president yet about allowing Irken armada ships to come in and begin mining?"

"Yeah," Zim replied, "She said she doesn't want us Irkens showing up in fully armed war ships, but that we're perfectly welcome to come and mine."

Gaz pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Smivy. "This is a decree from my dad stating that 'with Irken and human technology working side by side, we may be able to force the ions into the necessary compounds without blowing up the whole world.' So far it's sounding good."

"Yup." Smivy pulled Gaz to his side, and gave Zim a mocking glare. 

There was a beeping sound from one of the computer consoles across the lab. Dib flung himself around the voot cruiser, and leapt into the air. Spider legs shot from his pod, and he swung himself about the lab until he had come to the rather vocal computer. "Incoming transmission," Dib shouted. A moment later, Smivy, Gaz, and Zim appeared beside him. 

A leg shot from Gaz's pod, and pressed a button. "It's the Tallest," she said.

A screen appeared before them, seated on the other end were Red and Purple. Red was preoccupied by an object that looked like Darth Vader's helmet, so Purple spoke.

"Zim, Smivy… humans. Red and I have just found out that our meeting today with the Georglukasian Ambassador has been, ehhem, _canceled_." Purple shot a look at Red, who had shoved the black helmet onto his head, and was now having difficulties pulling it off. He was making a series of loud grunting noises, and several Irken ship-hands appeared in an attempt to help him.

"Oh-her omfar ay!" said a muffled voice from under the helmet.

"Er, what my partner here is _trying_ to say is that we are on our way."

"Ef."

"We will be arriving any minute now, seeing as we, uh, _found_ some new transportation methods while, um, _searching_ a Generodenberian vessel."

Smivy started, "Uh, well, we were kind of-

"Purple over and out." The alien looked down at his coworker sitting beside him, who now had half a dozen ship-hands working at the obstruction stuck on his head. 

Purple sighed. "Red, get that damn contraption off of your head before I cut it off-

The screen went black.

The four observers looked at each other.

"Uh," Zim said.

"I suppose we should get ready as best we can," Dib muttered.

Gaz nodded.

"Do you think we will have an example of the mineral ready for them by the time they get here?" Zim asked.

"I dunno." Smivy gave a small, defeated shrug, "But if you want to get dressed a little better, I suppose we won't. We can just say we were waiting for them, so that we could show them, um, our, uh…"

"Expertise?" Gaz suggested.

"Yes! That works! Now, let's go get ready!"

^*^*^*^*^

The old voot cruiser rammed the small cell at the end of the orange tunnel, unleashing a havoc which was surpassed only by what was taking place within the cell itself.

Smivy now reared up on his spider legs, holding Terrin by his neck, and placing a knife to Ketric's throat. Dib made hopeless attempt after hopeless attempt to snatch at least one of the boys. A limp green form in the corner was Tetter, the current _supposed_ "almighty" Tallest. 

The voot cruiser stopped charging when it saw that Smivy had everyone at a draw. But unfortunately for Smivy, it was not going to stay that way for long. 

"Bow to me, laserless fool!" Red shouted, bursting through the door. His own spider legs shot out, and he had quickly knocked the two boys from Smivy's hold. Purple's own extra appendages came out. He pinned Smivy. He pointed the laser, which shook slightly in his grip, at the other alien's head.

"Get the kids out of here!" He shouted.

Red grabbed Terrin and Ketric around the waists, but dropped them both and collapsed to the floor before he could go anywhere.

"I will get that information!" Tetter shouted, holding up his arm, which was covered in the usual armor, but which was bent after slamming into Red's head. He grabbed Terrin and snarled angrily in his ear, "I _will_ do whatever it takes."

The voot cruiser went into action again. This time, though, after one harsh whack on the cell, which continued to rock violently for several moments after the strike, it traveled over to the orange tunnel. It's top popped open once the tunnel had expanded and solidified around it, and from it emerged-

"Mom?" Terrin cried.

The woman, covered in Irken armor, and armed to the teeth with every kind of weapon she could get her hands on, including a butter knife tied to her wrist, and a fire extinguisher strapped tightly to her back, leapt from the alien craft, and pointed a laser at Tetter.

"Get your filthy claws off of my son, you oversized _lizard_!" She gave a high, Xena-warrior-princess battle cry, and charged madly at the alien.

Tetter seemed, to play master of the understatement, startled. He stumbled backwards, and tripped over the unconscious Red. Purple, who was still holding Smivy, gave a quick warning shout, but was too late. Before anything could be done, Terrin, Tetter, and Purple landed on top of Smivy. Ketric shrugged, and picked up a laser, which had fallen to the floor at some point during the crash. Tetter released Terrin, more because he himself had to get up than because he wanted to. The human boy rolled off of the pile of aliens, and found his way beside his mother. Then he looked around. 

"Quickly!" Dib shouted "In the voot cruiser!" He was already planted at the "driver's" seat of the craft, and was waving frantically for everyone else to join him.

Terrin bullied the laser out of Ketric.

Dib, Ketric, and an unconscious Red (who had been carted there by Ketric) were now in the voot cruiser.

Purple and Terrin stood in gun-fight-stance, parallel to Smivy and Tetter. 

The end! Not. But getting closER. This chapter should have asked more questions than it answered, but it will all be tying up soon enough. I know, the last section sounds like I was intoxicated- I really wasn't, I swear! But I AM exhausted! And I figured you were all probably annoyed at me enough for taking so long that it almost didn't matter what I put out. I may be starting another story soon, but I promise I won't forget about this one! Keep an eye out for my new story, and for anyone who is interested, I would LOVE fanart! I feel like this story has gone slightly down-hill, but oh wellL I'll keep it up as long as people are reading! Bubbies everyone!


	9. To Flee Uncouthly

A/N: and now onto chapter… gosh, what chapter IS it? 8? 9? 21?!?!?! *clicks on "open" to check* ahha! 9! Yay! Okay, chapter nine, comin' up! Thanx to ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE who has reviewed, I can not tell you how over joyed I am when I get them! Hehe, 'over-joyed'… hehehe. Pianist… ahehehe… Ehhem. Anyway, I am SOOOOOOOOOOO sorry about how long it took to get this out. 1) I always try to put out my fic on weekends, cause that's when more people are on. 2) I wanted to make this chapter long to make up for the shortness of the others 3) School seriously sucks, and 4) I'm working on another fic, which is not yet posted in the Batman Beyond section. Hey, that show ROCKS, okay? 

Disclaimer: **hoheehum can be seen standing in a modernly decorated room, before a large desk with a lawyer behind it** 

hoheehum: "I plead the fifth!" 

Lawyer: "Um, Laura?"

hoheehum: "I said I plead the fifth! I don't have to talk if I don't want to!"

Lawyer: "Laura!" 

hoheehum: "I've said before, and I will say again: I DON'T OWN IZ! So you can't have me arrested! And I swear by your shiny bald spot that I will NEVER give in to you or any others of your unholy species!"

Lawyer: "LAURA!"

hoheehum: "I WILL PREVAIL!"

Lawyer: "LAURA-ANNE! SHUT UP THIS INSTANT!"

hoheehum: "Uh, sorry dad."

Chapter 9: (title…hmmm) To Flee Uncouthly

Purple looked back and forth between Smivy and Tetter, and then dared a glance away to see his "partner" Terrin. The boy was glaring daggers at Smivy, and the alien happily returned the look. Black met icy blue (as somewhere along the way Terrin had taken his contacts out) silently, but it seemed, as Purple watched, that there was a harsh metallic clang. 

When he looked back at Tetter, the current Tallest was holding his laser at eye level facing Purple. There seemed to be a snap all of a sudden as Purple thrust his laser high into the air with his best battle cry, turned tail, and ran. He Leapt inside the already crammed voot cruiser, but turned around just in time to catch Terrin and pull him in. The screen closed in above him, and he settled down into the least obstructive position he could as the ship sped away into space. He heaved a sigh, and looked over just in time to see Red roll his eyes. 

"Wimp." Red wiped his forehead clear of a beaded, liquidy violet substance, and leaned back.

"Hey, I got us out of th-

There was a crash, and the voot runner rattled and shook. Terrin was thrust backwards into Purple and Red, and Dib was thrown right into Terrin's mother's lap. Ketric squirmed desperately, as he was now pressed against the shield of the runner by the pile of bodies, and had a very clear view of their recovering attackers. 

"Yay! We're doomed!" Gir yelled.

The eight streamlined black ships swung around a passing asteroid, and turned to face the meager-in-comparison vessel head on. 

"Let's go!" The boy shouted. He fell back suddenly as Terrin pulled himself free of Red and Purple, and shoved Dib off of his mother's lap with a quiet, "Off-a there, you!"

"Let's go!" Red echoed Ketric. He was watching as the ships slowed to laser-missile speed, a weapon that could easily destroy an entire deck of the Massive, and closed in on their target. 

"There!" Purple said, pointing to the moon that was quickly vanishing above them.

"Alright already!" Terrin's mother shouted. "Brace yourselves!"

She pounded her fist down on the thrusters, and forced a joystick-like contraption forwards. The runner did a 180° forward flip, and came to face the seven oncoming attackers head on. She swerved quickly to avoid a crash, and blew past the startled Irken pursuers. She gave the thrusters one more tap, and they sped off towards the moon. 

Behind them, a small spurt of flame flew up from the meteor they had been passing before and then died out quickly, signaling the demise of an Irken soldier. The flame, which quickly ate up all of the oxygen which had been inside the craft before it exploded, and blinked out, so that the effect of the crash was like a bright flash from a strobe light- blinding and disorienting. It sent two more into the meteor, one which crashed and burned, and another which managed to slow just enough to prevent an explosion, but not enough to keep it from doing what was obviously serious damage to the engines.

Terrin's mother squinted out the "glass" pane on the front of the voot runner to just barely maneuver around the meteor, four trackers, and flying debris. At one point, and enormous plate of black metal came streaming suddenly across their path, and the woman nearly ripped the control console off of the face of the voot runner in an attempt to avoid being impounded. 

At the point a small shudder ran through the ship, and suddenly one of the remaining voot runners let off a blink of white light before blinking out to reveal pieces of rubble flying every-which-way.

"And remember!" Red shouted suddenly from the back of the voot runner, where he was swinging the large gun-like instrument about again to aim it at another runner. "**_LASERS_**!"

He opened up fire and let out a hail or lasers that made their gun rattle up and down, taking a holding-on-for-dear-life Red and the voot runner it was contained within along.

When their field of vision was finally cleared of large red blasts, there was nothing to be seen.

"Wahoo!" Red shouted. He threw a fist into the air, only to have it come in contact with a small cylindrical instrument attached to the ceiling, and knock it off. 

"Uh-oh. Uh.. uh… Purple! What did you do!"

"Huh?"

The joy of their survival, however, was short-lived. 

"Everyone hold on to something!"

"Dib's biiiiiiig head!" Gir screeched, and clamped his arms tightly about Dib's forehead. Dib let out a surprised shout, but moved only to grab onto the back of the pilot seat.

Terrin's mother reached up above her, and pressed a small blue button, which lit at her touch.

The thrusters swung around on the sides of the ship so that they were now facing in the opposite direction. Blue flame spewed out around the front of the small craft, and the voot runner stopped mid-glide. The remaining Irken vessel whooshed by.

Terrin's mother hit the blue button again, and as the engines returned to their original position, she tugged the "joy stick" towards her. The ship shot upwards.

After a moment, she began moving the ship in an arch until they were facing "downwards" again, as well as the oncoming Irken voot runners.

She swerved and spiraled, jolted, spun, flipped and rotated her way to the upcoming satellite. The Irkens followed with considerable difficulty. Red laser blasts birdied about the ship, but none but the initial shot came in contact. 

The moon was swelling, growing larger and larger as they traveled forwards. It's craters were no longer undefined black dots, but were enormous, volcano-like shapes, with grooves and nicks, and all of the 'battle scars' that one might expect on the surface of a moon. Dips and ruts crossed the landscape in a way that resembled alien scripture, hiding any sort of life that may have been beneath them. 

However, Terrin's mother did not seem particularly concerned with the fact that there may have been some sort of man-eating, four headed beast hiding in those crevices, as Dib was. All she seemed worried about was the fact that if something else could hide in there, so could they. She steered her way towards them, closer and closer, until only a few hundred kilometers were between them and the moon, and the inside of the craft was growing very hot from the atmosphere they were passing through. 

"This is great!" Dib shouted over the noise of the engines, which were now whirring with stress from passing through the atmosphere, "Think of this: if our craft catches on fire, it means that there is _oxygen_ on this moon! And if there's _oxygen_, then we may be able to breathe without worrying about the amount of life support we have left!"

"You idiot!" Purple shouted, "If this voot runner catches on fire, we won't _have_ to worry about life support, with or without oxygen!"

Dib blinked. 

"Missing the forest for the trees," Terrin muttered.

"Everyone grab on to something- this is gonna be one hell of a landing!" Terrin's mother shouted. 

And indeed it was. The small violet and red voot runner spiraled its way closer and closer to the moon, which had now swelled to take up their entire view. Directly behind them the sleek black vessel, which had come to be known as 'the bad guy' in the minds of six people and one tiny, blue-eyed robot, was preparing to board.

"Oh no you don't!" Terrin's mother roared. In one last desperate effort the woman reached below her seat and yanked hard on a small rope with a little red T-top handle on the end. There was a snapping sound, and a cord shot from the side of Zim's old voot runner and entangled itself with the engines of the black voot cruiser. 

"Somebody finish the maneuver!" the woman shrieked as she whipped the voot cruiser around and attempted to do a complete circle around the other craft. 

Dib ran to a hatch in the side of the ship, flipped it open, and pushed a large red button. 

"Everyone hold on!"

They were less than half a mile away from the ground, and closing, when suddenly a streak of lightning arced across the rope to explode within the bowels of then enemy ship's engine. It spun out of control, ripping away from the old craft and spiraling off into the distance. 

It was about then that Terrin looked up and realized that the voot runner was about ten meters off of the ground. Scratch that, three meters. 

The woman piloting the ship was doing her very best to smooth the crash that came next, but without hesitation I might say that it was undoubtedly a crash. After all, _you_ try landing a two-hundred-year-old alien spaceship in the middle of a narrow canyon on a planet you've never been to. For the situation, she did awfully well. 

There was a nerve-wracking screech as the blurred walls of the canyon gutted one of the engines. The floor was punched upwards under the passenger's feet, and the world was little more than a blur of sparks, both within and around the craft. Flames spurting up outside the glass protector shield sculpted the metal of the ship into tiny macabre statues with their blazing heat. They licked in under the clear covering and heated the soles of the human's shoes until they were plastered to the misshapen floor. 

The shell of the craft was slowly heating up, so that every time the passengers were thrown against the walls any open skin was burnt. It also meant that the walls were more malleable, and were therefore dented outwards by the impact of bodies being thrown against it. 

It was around then that Terrin looked out the clear shield and saw the wall of rock that the already-totaled voot runner was quickly approaching.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Shi'il!" 

Dettia slammed her fist down on the control panel of the ship, which beeped indignantly at her. 

"Of course," she muttered. "The one blasted thing that's working is the _sound chip_! Genghis!" 

The gray-eyed Irken stumbled into the front area of the voot cruiser. The scar on his face from where he had been hit with water was bleeding again, and his eye twitched as he stared at her through the haze of sparks

"Begin repairs to the engine. System five auto repair's coordinators have been completely destroyed, so we're going to have to do it manually, and that could take a while if our entire emergency supply set scattered in the crash. If you can find anything…" she tapped a few keys on the computer in an attempt to contact an emergency rescue crew, but the computer simply let out a strident squeak. It's screen fuzzed for a moment, and then cleared and went black.

"Unnn…" she rubbed her temples and leaned back. "If you can find anything that might be useful grab it. You never know." She glanced up at him saw that he was scowling. 

"What?"

"What do I do if I find any leads to where the escaped prisoners landed?"

"Follow them. And if you find them, not too many 'accidents', you hear?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Dismissed."

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Back on the Massive2 the state was hectic. Tetter was badly wounded and nobody knew why (nor dared ask.) He was suddenly without any idea of what to do. His plans would be completely destroyed if he made the wrong decision, but without a counselor, he had no idea what the _right_ decision might be.

Indeed, he was now without any sort of help. As soon as the prisoners had escaped, Smivy had made sure to get a good stab at Tetter. Literally. Then he had vanished, and Tetter had not seen him since. That was almost a full Earth day ago now. 

Tetter sat in large padded chair, sipping something that a human might have found reminiscent of wine, and staring at the stars. 

His room was similar to the prisoner's cells in several ways, the most prominent likeness being the fact that it was entirely clear. Like in the cells, one could look around and see nothing but stars and the occasional droid, or perhaps an Irken guard walking by, checking to make sure that everything was in order. His quarters, however, were much more comfortable than the prisoner cells, and though he could look out, no one could look in.

The rest were all small things, such as how the chamber was held to the Massive, or what the rotational pattern was compared to the ship, by how many degrees the tractor beam adjusted every time a planet or satellite's magnetic pull threw the room off balance. 

From his room he could see the docking bay at the bottom right, the nearby moon dead-ahead, and one side of the massive to his left.

A SIR unit trotted into the room and appeared at his feet.

"Incoming transmission from an unauthorized attack vessel," it droned in its monotonous, mechanical voice. "Accept?"

"Yes," Tetter said quickly. The only person who would be able to get hold of an unauthorized attack vessel was Smivy. And Smivy meant advice.

"Now listen to me, you Tall piece of trash, and listen very closely. Here's the deal: I'll give you advice, let you get the credit, but I'm running the show from now on, got it? You sit there and wait, and when I give the signal, you send a squadron to follow my every instruction. I don't want to hear anything out of you from now on unless you're asking me if you can get me anything, understand? I've had enough following you around on your stupid crusades. I'm taking control now, and I'm getting this job done right!"

Tetter sat up, and quickly dismissed the little SIR, who was politely trying not to pay attention. Then he looked at the screen, which spanned the length of the dome before him, and into Smivy's void-like eyes on the other end.

"I-I-

"Good. Now listen very closely: no vessel is to leave the Massive until I give the go-ahead. I left you something I thought you might find useful, but I don't want it running away before we can use it. Put maximum security on prisoner cell 5113864 until I get back-

"Yessir-

-and make sure to lock your door, would you?"

"I will."

"Good. Remember, stay there. I should be in contact shortly."

"Yessir."

Smivy's face vanished, and the wall was once again transparent. Tetter tilted his head back against the top of his chair, and let his antenna relax. He hadn't realized it, but they had been rigid, and it was never a good idea to show Smivy that much fear, especially when he was in this mood.

He eased back, and forced himself to take another sip of his "wine." 

Everything was going to be okay. As long as Smivy was somewhere at the head of the Irken ranks, as long as he was still on their side, the empire was safe. 

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Someone moaned beside Terrin and attempted to shift out of whatever ungodly position they were in. It didn't work too well, but that was okay: they were doing better than he was. At least they could move in the first place.

He tried to tilt his head, but as he moved he felt a serrated piece of scrap metal lower even further onto his neck. Deciding that he would prefer to keep his head right where it was, (thank you,) he stopped moving. He tried to raise a hand, but both of them were pinned beneath him. 

One of his legs was slightly mobile, but it was pinned at the knee by the same piece of ship that was holding his entire other leg where it was. To shift his attempts, he tried pushing himself upwards slowly with his elbows, but a moment later he was quite prepared to declare that he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

There was a loud crash as someone fell to Terrin's left. Whoever it was hit the floor with a clang, and muttered a quiet "ow," before Terrin was able to recognize Dib's voice.

"Dib!" he called quietly, then louder, "Dib!"

"Terrin? Where are you?"

"Buried. There's a piece of metal that's ready to decapitate me if I move too much, and my hands are pinned, so I can't move it away."

There was a shuffling sound, and Dib began digging. After a few moments of him pulling things out of the way, Dib said, "Terrin? Is that your hand?"

"I certainly hope not."

"It must be Ketric's."

There was more digging, and a moment later, a piece of metal holding Terrin up was pulled away. He fell strait onto and unconscious Ketric, but didn't pause to consider this. He grabbed the boy and hauled him out of the way just before the guillotine/scrap metal fell and dug into the ground where Ketric's scalp had been a moment before. 

Dib wrapped his arms around Ketric's stomach and pried him the rest of the way out of his imprisonment. Then he rested him down outside the voot cruiser, by way of torn open wall.

He returned to help Terrin finish picking himself up a moment later. 

"Anybody else awake?" Terrin called. Someone started coughing.

"Blasted sons-of- what the?"

Dib and Terrin set to work to find more of their comrades. 

In a matter of about fifteen minutes, they had collected everyone else. Even Gir was still intact. Everyone was alive and well. Red and Purple had been trapped into a bubble-like space between the wall they had collided with and the voot cruiser, which Dib suspected had been formed by the sudden release of oxygen from the wall when it had been struck by the fire. His theory was that with nowhere else to go, it had been forced back into the ship, thus forming the space. Terrin was willing to listen to this simply to take his mind off of his exhaustion. 

"I wonder what sort of rock this is on this planet that has oxygen in it…"

"How do you know it's oxygen?" Terrin asked as he and Dib gripped his mother's wrists and leaned backwards in an attempt to pull her out.

"Well look at the grass. Outside of the super-heated circle surrounding our ship, the grass has dew on it. However, after about three feet of dew there is no longer any wet grass. As well, the dew is most concentrated in the area surrounding the engines.

"Zim's voot cruiser uses a very advanced version of hydrogen power. Since fire would demand oxygen, than the fire from our ship would suck oxygen from any source, including the rocks. If the oxygen was pulled from the rocks because of the fire, and the ducts containing hydrogen within Zim's ship were torn in the crash, and the oxygen and the hydrogen were to meet, than that would imply condensation."

"…Wow."

"Thank you, I'm rather proud of myself for this one."

Terrin's mother came loose right then, and flew into the arms of her two young rescuers. They stood her up, and Terrin lead her to where Red and Purple were tending to Ketric, who, of them all, was the worst off. 

"How is he?" Terrin's mother asked. She knelt and leaned over to study him.

"I dunno," Purple said, throwing up his hands. "I know absolutely nothing about human anatomy, or about your sicknesses or injuries."

"Move out of the way, I'll deal with him." The woman pushed the two aliens away and rested a hand against Ketric's forehead. Then she frowned. 

"Purple, you go searching for firewood. Red, you get to go search the ship for any weapons. I don't care whether they're in tact or not, just get them and put them in a safe place until I can get to them, okay? Gir, you help Red. Terrin, I want you and Mavinus to look for any medical supplies, or anything that looks like it can be used as a splint, or whatever else there may be a necessity for." 

She managed to bark out her entire list of orders in only one breath. However, it was several breaths later when the problem with what she had said dawned on everyone.

Terrin looked around frantically, before finally gasping in horror, "Where's Mav?"

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

That's it or chapter 9! Whew! Well, I tried to make it longer, but… I couldn't force myself. I actually started this chapter about a month and a half ago… sad, huh? When writing a story, I used to be able to write almost twenty-five pages in 45 minutes. But then I was introduced to this funny little obtrusive thing called life, and that stopped happening. :::::sigh::::: well, sorry for the wait, I really did try to get it out before now, I just had absolutely NO luck. Okay, so, several announcements: first of all, if you would like me to email you when a new chapter of the story is coming out, just mention it in your review, or in an email. Second- I am looking to do some beta-reading (editing), so if anyone has some work they would like me to edit, just gimme a hoot (in your perty little review! Or in an email!) and last- I'm in the midst of writing a story, and I'm trying to see if its something that people will read and enjoy, so if anyone would like a sample of it, (just tell me how many pages [between one and five] you want, or whether you just want the prologue) and I would absolutely LOVE comments and suggestions. I'm goin for the big time with this, so it won't be on ff.net: I'm hoping to get it published some day! It's fantasy, and if you would just like a short description, tell me. But that would be SOOOOOOOOO helpful, and I would be forever grateful! Well, thanx for reading! 

hoheehum


	10. Bad, bad me aka important author's notes

Alright Yonder fans, I'm BACK! I apologize that this couldn't be an actual chapter, but I haven't had time yet. Bad me, bad, bad me. I was sitting in my room the other day when all of a sudden I thought: 

Holy delicious and nutritious, mutated macadamia nut cookies! I need to work on _Yonder_!

So, here's the deal- supporting my totally awesome best friend Maggie and everyone else out there with the dream of being a cartoonist, or any dream for that matter, I'm giving you this html:

www.geocities.com/cactuspride 

This is her absolutely hysterical cartoon called **Cat and Cactus**©, about… well, go find out! She just recently sent an email to the guy who writes the **Foxtrot**© comics, and instead of receiving the usual automatic computer response, she got an PERSONALLY WRITTEN EMAIL, and she's totally psyched about it. SO… go check out Maggamalopolis' website of Cat and Cactus, and then WRITE her about what you thought at mpp727@aol.com! Entitle your email: **Gifts from Friar Laurence ^^^**

And here's the bribe:

I'm planning on, due to school work, life, and little pink bunny rabbits screaming that they're Republicans, having the next chapter of Yonder be 3 pages worth, and out in 30 days. But for every email Maggie receives about her site, whether good, bad, or productive, I will chop a day and a half off of that time span. Ex: Maggie gets four emails, the next chapter of Yonder is out in 24 days. Maggie receives 12 emails, the nest chapter is out in 12 days, Maggie receives 20 emails, Yonder is out tomorrow! If we breach 20 emails, every email after that will add half a page to the story (however, if that happens, it might take a little longer than a day to get Yonder out, so PLEASE give me 1-3 day leeway for quality's sake!) And think of it this way: I'm telling you to go and have fun so that your Yonder will be out sooner! How much better does it get?!?!?!

Well, thank you ye oh-wonderful-fans for sticking by me and being patient, go bust a gut at Maggie's site.

Ta-ta for now, 

hoheehum


	11. Imported Goods and Bads part 1

Alright, everyone, those of you who have come back- THANK YOU!!! I haven't given up on you! I emailed everyone in my reviews because I know that you may no longer be looking for Yonder. If you don't want me to do it anymore, just review or email me. Otherwise I'll just tell you whenever I'm updating. Also, check out my disclaimer! I tried to give you all a part in it!

Special Edition Disclaimer: 

Tallest Naz, Sempai Tnberry, Invader Qin, Purple, Chien, Kat23a, Irken Invader, Katrina Brehany, Shibby, Remliss, Toon Warrior, Foxstar, Invader Sezza, Lokifire, Invaders Ally and Jessy, Mirage DeDreamer, Sanquine Symphony, Purple's Right Hand Girl (PRHG), Crimson Obsession, Dark Destiny, the mysterious Symphony of Madness , and all other people who have read this fic but did not review (EHHEM!) stand in a half circle facing hoheehum.

hoheehum: Welcome everyone! To celebrate my return, I'm going to introduce you all to an old, very dear friend of mine. 

*muffled muttering heard behind her* 

Hoheehum (nervously): hehe, uh, don't mind him quite yet.

Sempai (*^_^*): OOH! OOH! Is that who I THINK it is?!?!?!?

Hoheehum: Quiet you! As I was saying, he is older than Terrin, Ketric, or any other character of mine, and I'm sure you will all learn to love him. SEMPAI! PUT AWAY THE HERBAL ESSENCES! 

Sempai (;_;): awwww… well, be brief, will ya?

Hoheehum: He is from the story I am writing parallel to Yonder, that I am planning on publishing. He's my VERAH VERAH FAVORITE CHARA EVAH! (hey! That rhymed! Woo!) And I am VERY protective of my characters. I'm sure you all know the feeling, being writers yourselves. He's basically the Mary Sue (or Mary Jane, whichever it is… I dun remember, nor care) of the male world, but all of his devilishly handsome looks, charming talk, killer instincts, and intelligent finesse is of course countered by the fact that he's one BADAZZ vampire! For example, he's the dude that gets to boss around Dracula. Hehe. NO BELTS EITHER SEMPAI!

Sempai looks sad

Hoheehum: well, he kindly agreed to visit us in my disclaimers (Sempai: heh. More like you dragged him here as he screamed indecipherable curse words at you) *blatantly ignoring Sempai* to help spice things up a bit! ^_^ So, I know most of you don't know him, but seeing as I have him strapped to a chair at the moment, something tells me you're going to have PLENTY of time to do so. 

Sempai: uh, Hum? You _do_ know it's as easy for him to get out of those binds as it is for us to brush our teeth in the morning, right?

*muffled shout of agreement from behind hoheehum*

Kat23a attempts to look around hoheehum, but hum moves her hand in front of Kat's face so she can't see.

Hoheehum: Under normal circumstances, yes. He is too perfect to be held by mere rope bindings, but these are no regular binds. These are binds which I have decided he cannot escape from.

*more muffled sounds from behind hum. The word dammit is easily picked out despite the gag.*

Hoheehum (speaking over her shoulder): You're MY character, and I say you're strapped to the damn chair, so DEAL WITH IT! *turning to face everyone again* So everyone, let's give a warm welcome to- he's mysterious, he likes black, he has a kick-ass trench coat, is totally hot, and is RIGHT HERE, **_RIGHT NOW_**!!!!!! The man with many names- DESCONOCIDO! But you can call him Descon for short!

Hoheehum reaches behind her, the ropes and gag suddenly vanishing, and grabs him by the ear. She gives him a tug, and he stumbles forwards.

Descon: Ø _Ø 

Hoheehum: so much for gratitude. 

Descon: huh.

Hoheehum: articulate, no? 

Descon: Ø _Ø 

Invader Qin: Does it talk?

Descon: I'll have you know-

Hoheehum: it takes a little prodding, but eventually he will. 

Sempai: Like, prodding, as in , CATTLE PRODDING?!?!!

PRHG: Hey, I have one of those!

Kat23a: really?

Hoheehum: *standing protectively in front of Descon- which is a bit difficult for the vampire, because she's still holding onto his ear* Don't even think about it! 

Descon: Could you **_please_** let go of my ear?!

Hoheehum (whiney): But I LIKE torturing you! And isn't it more fun to be tortured by me than by someone in your own bookiverse?

Descon: Frankly? If you would just do me a favor and cut ALL the *beep*ing torture, I'd be a lot *beep*ing HAPPIER!

Hoheehum: *glomps his leg* I'm so sorry!!!!

Descon: *unsure of what to do* uh…

Sempai (meekly): can I glomp you too?

Descon: …glomp?

PRHG points to the sobbing hoheehum.

Descon: O_O NO! NOT YOU! ANYONE BUT YOU! YAH! *is suddenly being glomped by Chien and Invader Qin* You all KNOW that's NOT what I MEANT.

Hoheehum: ;_; Dessie? Can you ever forgive me?!?!

Descon: Not if you ever call me Dessie again.

Sempai: HEY! HEY! Only one glomper at a time!

Descon: yes… please… no more 'glomping.'

Chien and Invader Qin let go and sigh sadly. 

Sempai immediately attaches herself to the leg not occupied by hoheehum.

Qin: HEY! …cheater.

Descon (muttering to himself): I think I died and went to hell. And if not, I think I'm going to kill myself so that I can GO to hell, and get out of HERE.

Sempai: And I'd hold onta yer leg the WHOLE WAY THERE

Descon (dryly): somehow I knew that.

Chien: Maybe you have psycho powers!

Descon: psych**_ic_**.

Chien: That's what I said…

Hoheehum: well, alright Dessie-

Descon: I swear… If you call me that one more time, I'm going to be forced to pull your intestines out of your ears and tie them into little balloon animals. *note: actual Descon saying* (he's not reminiscent of any Homicidal Maniacs we know, is he?)

Sempai: Not like that balloon thingy ELISE made, and wore on her head for, like, EVER after she took that BALLOON-ANIMAL class-

Hoheehum: Dessie!

Descon: grrrr…

Hoheehum: look, just give the intro, and we can get this disclaimer over with, and you can get back to your horribly miserable life. 

Descon (looks confused): intro..? *smirks EEEeeevillllly* (he does that often. It's quite scary.) Live, from NEW YORK! IIIiiiiit's SATURDAY NIGHT!

Hoheehum: *mutters* why'd I have to go and give him a really abrupt sense of humor? .

Sempai: *pats hum on the shoulder* we all make mistakes. 

Hoheehum: alright, Sempai, I've had enough of his ferociously dry and then suddenly extremely mocking antics! PICK THE TORTURE!

Random person running by: THUMBSCREWS!

All: …

Hoheehum:… _right_. 

Sempai: did… did you say **_I_** get to pick the torture…?!?!?!?!?

Hoheehum: just this once… yes. Sorry, Dee.

Descon: *points warily to Sempai* your can't sick her on ME!!! She'll call for BACKUP! AND YOU KNOW WHO HER BACKUP IS!!!!!!!

Hoheehum: Melting Crow? *cackle-cackle*

Descon: COME-_ON_, _LAURA_!!!

Sempai: Too late, buck-o. hehe… *black belt appears in hands* YAYNESS! ^_^

Descon: *backs away*

Sempai: now. Say it RIGHT this time.

Descon (rapid fire): hoheehumdoesnotownanyoftheInvaderZimcharacters-theyallbelongtoJhnenVasquezandsaddlyalsoViacomandNickelodian!!!!!!!!! OW! GOD! I SAID it, o**_kay_**?? Can I GO NOW?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Hoheehum: not yet hot-shot. *smiles evilly*

Descon: I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE OVERLY PROTECTIVE OF ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Hoheehum: hehehe…

Sempai: URGE TO HERBAL, LADIES!!!!

Chapter 10- Imported goods… and bads

An artificial night came over the moon a day (that being a period of 24 hours) after the crash landing when the Massive2 continued its orbit around the satellite and eclipsed the sunlight. Terrin had been tempted to build a fire, but Dib warned him that the Irkens would be able to pick up the heat rather quickly. Besides, the Massive2 itself gave off enough light and warmth to allow them to survive the night. 

They had traveled on foot from the time Ketric woke until it had grown dark, and each of them were dirty, worn, torn, bruised and exhausted from the long trek across the sometimes barren, sometimes lush terrain. 

Red and Purple used their spider legs and gave their hover belts to Ketric, who could barely walk otherwise, and Terrin's mother. Dib had pulled the anti-gravitational device from Zim's ship and constructed a platform just large enough for himself and Terrin, and they traveled like this for a while. However, one by one, the mechanisms broke down. 

The spider-legs had snapped or exploded a leg at a time until they were no longer useful; The hover belts were not meant for such long term exertion- Ketric's caught on fire and then exploded, throwing him to the ground and dragging him several hundred feet until finally crashing him into a tree. Terrin's mother's only fizzled a little, then dropped the woman to the ground. The anti-gravity device had apparently been damaged during the crash, and soon let out a huge puff of smoke before disintegrating beneath Dib and Terrin's feet. 

Thus, our fine warriors ended up on foot for the rest of their travels, and were now huddled together about their meager supplies without even a fire for comfort.

"Do you think he's okay, mom?" Terrin asked, poking at the half-cooked fish like creature in front of him.

It was Purple who replied. "Hey, that little smeet got himself all the way out here, freed us, and managed to devise a whole plan to get us off that ship. I think he can handle sneaking around for a little while. Besides, even if he _was_ captured, (which I doubt he was), I'm sure the Irkens are taking good care of him- we may be conquistadors, but we're _hospitable_ conquistadors."

"And besides," Red added through a mouthful of some chips he had found in the ship, "If they _did_ kill him, it was quick and fairly painless."

Dib choked on the grass he had been testing for edibility. 

"Red!" Purple hissed. His eyes narrowed, and he scowled at his co-ruler.

"Well it's _true_!" the other Tallest defended.

Ketric shifted his weight from one elbow to the other, careful to mind his splinted leg. "I'm sure Mav's fine," he said. "He's probably taken over the whole place by _now_. Not to mention, he's still got that little hover-bot with him, and bots are _always_ useful." 

As if to prove Ketric right, Gir belched loudly. The red-eyed teenager patted it gently on the head and gave a wry smile.

Terrin's mother, who informed everyone earlier on that her name was Gazerial, just sighed, and scratched her head. "I just wish I could be so sure…"

"Yeah…" Dib said dryly. 

"Hey!" Purple and Red both perked up at the same time, their antenna twitching madly as the looked around them through the thick brush. 

"What is it?" Ketric asked.

"Don't you hear that?" Purple whispered harshly.

"Something out there is…" Red looked haunted, "_slithering_!"

Alright, Yonder Fans, that's all for this time. I know, I know, most of it was the damn disclaimer, but here's the deal. I figure if I put it out in small segments, I could get small amounts out quickly. I'll try to have more by Monday. But for now, enjoy meeting Descon, you can guess that he'll be backJ and those of you that weren't in this disclaimer, can look forward to a bright future in the pages of my story. Unless ya don't wanna, of course. AGAIN! R/R!!!!!!

Adios, amigos! 

hoheehum


	12. Memories

Descon: :::::sigh:::::: well, at last. They finally left me alone… on the terms that I do the author's note for this chapter, because Laura- er, hoheehum -is lazy. -_- So, I'll get this over with before she sicks Sempai on me again. Basically this chapter will be one big flashback. Laura says she wanted to try to avoid doing this, but then she realized that there were simply too many twists and turns in the story for people to keep track of what's going on. And now you got it- the explanation chapter. Now, please, when you review, tell La- hoheehum that I'm never going to be agreeable again. I mean, how could she sick SEMPAI on me?!?! O.o Laura KNOWS that Maggie is EVIL when it comes to me! She…! She wants Laura to write a story where… I'm… not going to say any more, because it's humiliating. Anyway, enjoy. *scratches head* damn herbal essences… ~_~

Chapter 11: Memories

The door cracked open, and silhouetted by a pristine white light was Smivvy. Nothing of him was visible but the outline of his tall, thin frame, and a tiny glint of light on his large eyes. Gaz twitched her own eyes at him from the bed, with nothing between him and her bare body but a thin white sheet, and she could tell he smiled back. 

"Are you coming to bed or not? I'm not waiting all night, mister," she growled, somewhat jokingly. 

He hesitated, cocking his head to one side and holding up one hand.

"Gaz," he said, "I think-"

"Incoming emergency transmission from: area 99531," the computer interrupted. Suddenly Dib's voice blared through the entire Massive as its Irken and human inhabitants could do nothing but listen.

"Somehow…Nuclear…set off… evacuate bef… ate. I repeat, somehow a barrage of nuclear warheads were set off, and they're headed straight for the _Massive_. Evacuate, please, before it's too late! You guys… oh God, please, everyone get off of there alright…"

Gaz sat up suddenly, clutching the sheets to her chest. Smivvy ran over to her to pull her out of the bed.

"Mother of Irk, Daughter of the stars…" he muttered, "We have to go, you have to go, get out of here… Gaz, we have to get to our escape pods! Quickly! This ship can stand three or four blows, but _twelve_!"

Just then, the entire ship shook. Smivvy was thrown on top of Gaz, and the door swung the rest of the way open with a bang. White light flooded the room, and Gaz looked up in shock as she was not met by white skin and black eyes, but green skin, and red eyes. 

"Zim!" she shouted. "I thought you were-"

The light was suddenly cut off, and a voice came from the doorway.

"Gaz! Are you al-" he flicked on the lights, "…alright? Gaz? _Zim_?"

"Smivvy! Oh Gods!"

Zim leapt to his feet, and Gaz, with the sheets around her, was quick to follow suit.

"Smivvy!" Gaz said hurriedly. She took a step towards her spouse, but he moved away. "Please, Smivvy, this isn't what it looks like! Zim… he came in as soon as he heard the announcement to pull me out of bed, but with that blast, he was thrown onto the bed! _Please_ Smivvy, you have to _believe me_!" 

"Why? Why do I have to believe you?" he asked incredulously. His black eyes narrowed dangerously. "After all, I _am_ of the superior race."

"But Smivvy-"

"But _what_? But _nothing_! _Yes_, humans are descendent from Irkens- Irken _slaves_! Irken _thieves _and Irken _traitors_, put on this distant planet to get _rid of them_! And it is from them you get you back-stabbing habits! And from the apes they mated with you get your _stupidity_! I was a fool to think you had left either trait behind!"

"Smivvy, please," Zim said, trying to stay cool, "Please believe-

"And _you_, Zim," Smivvy sneered at his brother, "The Tallest _warned_ me that you were an idiot! You know why they sent you to Earth in the _first_ place, right? That your mission was just a _scam_ to get _rid_ of you! That you were never supposed to make any _ground_-breaking dis_coveries_! And that you never paid attention to the rules! The _rules_, Zim!"

There was a loud "ki-uuUumm" sound, and the ship rocked again; Gaz, Zim, and Smivvy were all thrown to the floor, along with several of the belongings placed on shelves around the room, and the computer rang out a warning for everyone to get to their designated escape pod as soon as possible. 

"Smivvy," Gaz said as she pulled herself off the floor, "Not here, not now, or we'll all _die_! Once we get to Earth-"

"And what makes you think I'm going back to that miserable dirt ball!"

"This ship is going to explode, and the escape pods don't have nearly enough power to get you back to Irk! Just…" Gaz looked at him sadly before her old, ferocious ways, from before she had fallen in love with Smivvy, returned. "Come back to Earth until we get a voot cruiser ready for you. Then you can go." She turned on her heel and stalked to her dresser. Without looking back she said:

"Get out of my room. I can get to my EP unaided. _Both of you_!"

~*~

Red watched the screen eagerly, his antennae twitching in anticipation. He waited for the pod codes to run across- four specific ones -their numbers burned into his memory like a branding. Once they passed, he could assure Dib that his sister Gaz, and his brothers in law, Smivvy, Purple, and -_ugh_- Zim, were all okay. 

Ever since that fateful day Zim had stumbled across the silver, and his growth-spurt began- since they had uncovered the horrifying truth of ancient humanity, and their sudden introduction to the opposable thumb, a very Irken trait- since Purple had become ill with what the humans called 'strep,' something that the Irkens had always thought fatal, but had been miraculously cured by this mysterious 'silver' mutigen- ever since then, the humans had become the strongest allies of the Irkens. Their _only_ allies. A strange word, 'ally,' however, it was nothing new to the humans- what without one world-wide government. Humans had relied on these 'allies' for _dexhal_. 'Interdependence,' Dib had explained once, "a symbiotic relationship between two peoples. They each give and take from the other in such a way that, were one to conquer the other, there would be things the conquerors could no longer obtain. You and Purple, for instance.' That had explained it to Red. He knew that he could probably boss Purple around, but that if he did, their reign would not be nearly as successful. 

Apparently the reason for human height was this 'silver,' and, as their anatomy was not all that dissimilar to that of the Irkens, it had the same effect on the aliens. It only worked to a certain degree, which is why the tallest could get no taller- but it was worth a shot. 

The other effect silver had on Irkens was even more important than increasing height, however. It completed a gap in their immune system which was the initial reason for Irken reliance on back Pods (over time, of course, power came into play with the back pods too, and it was one of the reasons that Irkens were so loyal to their leaders.) Apparently the humans did not have this gap, which would infer that it was the Irkens that had left Earth behind, not the other way around… but there were no human remains or artifacts extending past the reach of Irken history, meaning that Irkens had existed first. Apparently, then, the Irken discovery of this planet was a complete fluke, but a lucky one at that.

Dib, he, and Professor Membrane remained on Earth to help in the silver mining and testing, using particle accelerators the Irkens had provided (seeing the inferiority of the humans' own technology) cold fusion and fission (which the humans had apparently _also_ failed to excel in) atomic regeneration systems (or ARS, which the humans hadn't even come up with a _slightly_ accurate _rough draft _for) and Ne-tctgdkii systems (and that, the humans couldn't even _pronounce_, none the less had ever thought to think of thinking about coming up with a rough draft for. They called it the Centrifugal Particle Suspension Wave Emitter, but, because humans have this weird thing for acronyms that Red would never understand, they called it CPSWE, or 'sweetie' in sarcasm, as the tool was very moody).

Gaz, Zim, Smivvy and Purple were on the massive negotiating the details of the Irken/Earth treaty. 

Part of that treaty was that news of extraterrestrial life was to be slowly and calmly placed into the hands of the Earthenoids- on Dib's insistence -and the other part was to make sure that the Irkens- or Midians, named by their own stretch of space- and humans- or Terrans, after _their_ own stretch of space- would remain peaceful between and among each other. 

Unfortunately, it would appear that somebody- probably human -had flipped the switch, and sent a dozon nucleur bombs heading strait for the Massive. 

And when he saw the pod numbers run across the screen, he let out a sigh of relief, and leaned back in the chair. All they had to do now was wait…

~*~

"Well what am I supposed to tell my people!" Purple shrieked, his large eyes widening as he stood out of his chair suddenly and slammed a fist down hard on the table. He saw everyone in the room jump, especially those who knew him, and were used to the quiet, timid Purple- the diplomat -while Red was the one making noise and aggravating nerves.

"What!" he demanded again. "That 'oh, well, you see, because there was an accident on Earth, several weapons of _mass destruction _came to be the demise of you great flag ship- but it's okay, they didn't _mean anything by it!_ You leaders are now stranded on a distant- and from what you can tell -_hostile_ planet, without _anyone _there to protect them because the humans demanded they not take the armada along!' And you don't think they're going to notice this is just the slightest bit _suspicious_!? Even if I _do_ call them up to tell them 'everything's fine,' they're not going to believe me! They're going to think I'm at laser point, being force-fed words! I don't know if I'm going to be able to stop an all out obliteration of your _planet_!"

Purple stopped long enough to pant, and noticed that the President had noticeably paled since he had begun speaking. He was too angry to even remember how fascinated he was by how human skin changed color so dramatically. Too angry to notice the murmuring behind him.

"Ambassador Purple, sir, we understand your situation, and we are very sorry. At this very moment we are looking for the person or persons who started this catastrophe, but it will take time. Please, we ask you to contact your people and to be patient. In the meantime, Vice President Dib Membrane and Chief of Extraterrestrial Communications Officer Zim will accommodate you and any other Irken that needs a place to stay. Once again, you have all of Earth's deepest apologies, and myself I must apologize for needing to cut this meeting short. I need to handle the panic among my own people, to assure that you are safe during your stay."

Purple nodded tersely, and then abruptly punched Red in the face.

There was a quiet metallic clatter on the linoleum floor as Red let out a yelp. Purple then knelt to snatch up the laser and eyed Red chidingly. The other tallest's antenna pricked down to the sides submissively, but he muttered angrily under his breath. Several human guards, looking severely concerned about their welfare, led the tallest from the room.

~*~

It was later that evening that Red, Purple, Zim, Smivvy, Dib, Gaz, and Gir were hiking up the steps to the Victorian -style house that Zim had changed his previous 'box' into. The front door, now missing the men's room sign, was large and wooden, and swung open to reveal a glorious antechamber with a marble floor and walls of a soft orange-yellow tint, covered in Irken artwork. Above hung a large wrought-iron chandelier, shards of mirror and glass giving off light in sporadic glints across the walls and floor.

At the end of the hall and to the left was a winding purple-heart staircase, finished to bring out the wood's deepest shades of violet, with bird's-eye maple making up the footing planks, standing starkly against the deep colors of the railing. To the right, a large archway lead into the living room, and straight ahead was another, leading to the kitchen. 

Walking through, no matter how many times they had been there, each stopped for a moment to admire the ex-invader's handy work. Apparently, now that he was no longer under the strict rules of the Irken military, Zim had allowed his creative side to show through. 

They entered the living room, and from there, turned into a guest bedroom. When Zim flicked the lights on, he revealed a large, extravagant guest room, with absolutely no color. Dib blinked in surprise as he stared at the white walls, ceiling, rug, dresser, bed, etcetera, thinking perhaps something was wrong with his eyes.

"My Tallest," Zim said, unlocking the door to an adjacent room that was exactly the same way, save for the fact that the furniture was arranged slightly different. "This button here on the wall allows you to pick a color scheme to your liking. If you flick it off of auto color-arrangement, you may pick the colors manually. However, every possible color scheme is al_ready_ stored in the system's data. To make things simpler, you may place your eye to the device there. It will read the configuration of your pupil, and construct a list of the top twenty color schemes that will be most favorable to you, in order from most to least, as well as one outstanding suggestion- the one it believes to be most pleasurable to your eyes. You may hook a perpetual line to it, so that it will alter perfectly to accommodate your mood, the weather, what you are wearing, and on."

There was a moment of dumb silence, in which six sets of eyes were set on either Zim, or the device. It was finally broken by Red.

"I gotta _get_ me one of _these_." 

"I can have one ready for you to bring back before you departure, my Tallest. And one for you as well?" he said to Purple, who nodded, then hurriedly hovered over to the little device and began fiddling around with it.

"Each of your rooms has a floor entrance to the lab, so that you may come and go as you please. Feel free to use any equipment you feel necessary. It can also be used as an elevator, and can take you to the attic, where my Dock-Runner and Voot-Cruiser are both stored. You may use either one of those as well.

"The far left wall of each of your rooms is also a monitor, which can be used for making transmissions, watching television, and pretty much anything else that one might do with a monitor. You have access to all HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Comcast Cable, and Satellite dish channels, as well as separate channels showing movies that are still in theaters, and a log of every movie/TV show/music video ever made- human and Irken.

"If you need my assistance, simply press the button on your bureau, and it will lead directly to the speakers of whatever room I am in. I am at your assistance for whatever you may need, at any time of the night or day."

Everyone in the room jumped as a sudden booming voice sounded through the room.

"This is God! Zim, get me a soda!"

They looked over to see Red bent over the bureau, pressing his mouth against the little speaker on the nightstand's top, and smiling idiotically. 

Zim reached behind him, into what appeared to be a refrigerator, and pulled out a soda, which he walked calmly over to Red, who smiled sheepishly up at him.

"Behind me, where I retrieved your soda, is a food-o-matic. It can make whatever you can conceive, however you can conceive it."

"Gee, Zim," Purple said, even as he pressed a button, and the entire room turned neon green and pink (the tallest let out a yelp at this, and quickly pressed another button, which left the room decorated by images of Red's head being shoved down a toilet. Purple let out a sigh of relief before finishing his sentence.) "It really seems we've got everything we need here. Uh… than-"

"Yeah!" Red interrupted, noogying Zim, "I could become a lazy pain in the ass _easily_ with you doing everything for me al_ready_!"

Everyone looked at Red for a moment, then continued on as if nothing had happened.

"We should head to the lab and talk to Irk before they send out for an organic sweep of Earth," Smivvy said quietly. 

"Uh… yeah, yeah!" Dib said, pulling his eyes away from the fish with three feet to look at the other members of the room. "That would be a good idea."

Noticing that no one had moved, Smivvy said, "Considering the fact that all of us are _on_ this planet, to be obliterated as well."

At this, everyone scooted into the center of the room, onto the floor entrance- an oval shape that appeared in the floor as it went down. 

"Computer!" Zim commanded, "Take us to the lab!"

~*~

As Zim attempted to figure out exactly what was wrong with the transmission system on the roof, Smivvy, Gaz, Dib, Red, and Purple waited in the lab. 

Gaz glanced at Smivvy, her expression torn between sorrow and fury. But the alien refused to look back at her, and simply waited for the feed to appear on the screen. 

As he waited, his own anger grew. _Stupid_ _human_, he thought, _how dare she! How _dare_ she! Make a fool of me? She thinks I don't see the way she looks at him, but I do… I've seen the glances all along. And yet I have been so blind! And her brother… Dib… a shame, really, that such a fine man has such a foul sister. But was it not the humans' deception that brought me here in the first place? Well, none of them will fool me any more. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me_, he recited the old human adage in his mind and chuckled. Dib looked at him for a moment, but then turned back to the screen. 

_That's right, human, look away. You, and those pathetic excuses for Tallests. Lasers and smoke machines! Huh. Our race needs new leaders, that's it. Or more specifically, _one_ new leader_.

He looked around, knowing that the button was somewhere. Emergency chryostasis was a standard in Irken technology. He found the button, and next to it, a screen. He touched the screen where it showed four of the five life forms in the room, and then pressed the button. The tubes shot up around Dib, Red, Purple and Gaz. They all whirled around as the chryogenic liquid began pouring in from the top.

"Smivvy!" Dib shouted, panic-stricken. "Smivvy! What are you doing! Stop!"

"Oh God, Smivvy, is this about us?" Gaz called. "Smivvy, this is going too far! You're going too far!"

The Tallest shouted orders at Smivvy, knowing better than trying to break the glass as the humans were. But Smivvy just remained silent, gazing at their writhing, panicking forms, as the liquid rose up and up, past their ankles and their knees, and their hips, and he knew that each one of them took those points as more reason to panic. And the liquid rose past their waists, now sending icy waves up and down their spines. To their chest and their neck, and up to their chin, and their shouting and cursing and struggling became more intense, and they each tilted their heads back, and tried to gasp air until the last moment, when they could move their heads no further. They all stopped trying when it came to that point, and returned to pounding and pleading, and looking panicked. 

There was a slight crackling sound as the liquid crystallized on the other side of the glass, and a white clowd billowed and sank to the floor. 

Smivvy turned back to the console, and drew his finger in a curved line around the four disappearing spots of heat, and the one prominent life sign that was his own. He set a two minute time gap, and then put one finger on the dot that was Gaz's chamber, and set a lock on it. 

Password? It blinked at him in Irken.

He stared for a moment, but then remembered the small time gap he had, and though of the first thing he could. It was a name that only he and Gaz had shared between them, that had in itself encompassed both a reference to the stars beyond, and an originality that gave it meaning to them. It was to be the name of their first son. A name he and Gaz had hoped would be passed down for generations and generations. Now, it was the key to her enslavement.

With shaking fingers, he typed it, and left quickly, as just behind him the force field snapped on. 

But the word hung for a moment on the screen after he had left the console:

Terrin.

And then the screen went black.

~*~

When Zim came down to the lab he was stunned to find Smivvy standing alone, his black eyes glinting from the light off of the consoles; behind him, Gaz, Dib, Red and Purple were frozen in terror, each one's eyes reflecting their struggle to escape. Before he had time to say anything, Smivvy leapt at him, knife in his hands, murder in his eyes. He grabbed the green-skinned alien's antenna and yanked hard on them, leaving Zim momentarily paralyzed. Then he took the knife, and placed it at the base of Zim's antenna.

For one moment, he leaned down so that he was face to face with Zim, and snarled.

"Only humans sleep with other humans," he whispered. The he pulled back on the knife and felt it catch on the antenna for a moment, then slice clean through, all the while Zim screaming in agony. Smivvy dropped the knife, and wrapped that hand about Zim's neck. In his other hand, the antenna were twitching madly, like the legs of a dead daddy-long-leg. After Smivvy had lifted Zim's frail form and tossed it over the rail of the platform to let it drop for the miles to the base of the lab, he pulled out a lighter, and lit the quivering antenna on fire.

~*~

Smivvy stared blankly back at the two grim-faced guards, and nodded.

"Dead," he repeated. 

"A-are the humans responsible for this?" the one asked, almost dreading the response he would receive. Smivvy opened his mouth, but then stopped himself.

"No," he said tiredly. "No, but they wish to break all contact with us. Any messages you intercept from Earth in the future will be accidents. Pay them no mind." 

"Then sir… if the Tallest are dead, than… than you are the new Tallest."

Smivvy thought gloomily on this for one more moment, and then nodded again. "Please, send a ship for me, and take me back to Irk. And there I will take the throne. Only there…"

"Yes, sir, Tallest, sir! Right away!"

When the screen faded, Smivvy sank to the floor, and sat for a long time. He drew his knees up to his chest, and wrapped his arms around his legs. Then alone in the confines of the lab, Smivvy cried.


End file.
